Asian Games: Rain threatens Shreyas Iyer-led India’s title defence ahead of Afghanistan quarterfinal

Nisshin: Even if a single ball is not bowled, the Indian men’s cricket team will still retain the Asian Games gold they won in the previous edition on debut. Going by the weather here, the situation cannot be ruled out. The only constant for the Indian team from the time they landed in Tokyo a week ago has been rain. Apart from a couple of indoor net sessions, the players have probably held an umbrella more than a bat or a ball.They arrived in Nagoya with a steady drizzle on Saturday afternoon and their practice session on Sunday was halted midway due to rain again. With the venue being a makeshift cricket stadium, there were no indoor facilities for the team to turn to.But skipper Shreyas Iyer refused to dwell on the weather conditions. “There is rain, but we can’t use that as an excuse. Such hurdles will keep coming. Irrespective of the situation, we are mentally prepared (to play). We got a decent warm-up and a little practice (before the rain). We will try to adapt as soon as possible to the wicket.” In the quarterfinals on Monday, they face Afghanistan.At the Korogi Sports Park here, Afghanistan come into the contest on the back of a mixed campaign so far. While they had an easy outing against hosts Japan in their campaign opener, they were handed a five-wicket loss by Nepal on Friday.The results are the outcome of the fact that Afghanistan is fielding a second-string team in the tournament with skipper Darwish Rasooli and Abdollah Ahmadzai, the only players in the squad from the team which lost to India 0-3 in a bilateral series recently.A full-strength Indian team against a rookie Afghanistan side may seem like a contest of the uneven, but the Indian team will know better than taking the Afghans lightly, especially after their near-loss. In the five-over rain-truncated contest India managed 32/4 and then scrapped through with a two-run margin.“We can’t take any team in the Asian Games lightly because the wicket here cannot be set to a particular standard. It will be challenging and difficult for every team.”Iyer also cited the example of the recent match against Japan, a rain-truncated contest. It will be interesting to see if India will risk playing Jasprit Bumrah, who was rested for the match against Japan, given he is coming back from injury and the outfield may not be the best.While the stage is set for the title defence, one can only hope for th srain to stay away, especially for the scores of Indian fans, who are planning to travel from across Japan to root for the men in blue.Stay updated with the latest Asian Games 2026 news, check the Asian Games medal tally and complete Asian Games schedule.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.