It's Japan time: A gold double in cricket appears a given, but it will provide benchmark for LA Olympics

When the United States men’s basketball team goes to the Olympics, they face a unique situation. For the NBA superstars, a gold is a given, anything less is a fall from grace.The Indian cricket contingent at the Asian Games will feel a bit like the ‘Dream Teams’. Two gold medals appear a foregone conclusion and there would probably be any euphoria when it happens. But just in case it’s a silver for either of the star-studded teams which are products of the cash-rich IPL and WPL, the backlash will be quite significant.On the face of it, there’s no reason for any worry for those who will be tracking the Indian teams. The men have got a bye in the first round and their first match is a quarterfinal — in all probability against Nepal. If all goes to plan, Sri Lanka and Pakistan will be their next two rivals at the Korogi Sports Park — the ground built from scratch.Matches will be day games with Indian men’s matches starting at 1.30 pm local time. While Nepal is a bit of an unknown quantity, the other teams get beaten by India as a matter of habit across tournaments, be it the T20 World Cup, Asia Cup or the rare bilateral tournament.Despite the tag of overwhelming favourites, the sports ministry and the BCCI aren’t taking any chances. There was the option of sending a second-string team, but even Jasprit Bumrah, coming back from an injury lay-off, is headed to Japan. There were issues about five-star accommodation for the superstars, but that too has been taken care of to keep all the parties happy.While there’s the obligation of winning gold, there’s another angle to this Indian campaign. Cricket will be back in the Olympics at Los Angeles two years down the line after a gap of 128 years, and the success of the return hinges on how India perform.It is the Indian diaspora around the world that fuels the sport and such has been the domination of the Men in Blue in T20 cricket of late, that anything other than the champions’ medal is a huge dampener for this group of globe-trotting cheerleaders.Many of them will be at Aichi-Nagoya as well and in addition to the gold, there will be another demand from them — to witness some Vaibhav Sooryavanshi blitzkrieg.With the next T20 World Cup and the Olympics still a couple of years away, this Asian Games can also be a bit of a test for two T20 specialists Shivam Dube and Varun Chakravarthy, provided the spinner passes the fitness test following the side strain that he suffered during the Afghanistan series. They have been a slight up and down of late and there’s a chance that if they don’t get their acts right, this could be their last Indian stints for the time being.But before the men start their campaign, it’s the girls who will get the ball rolling. The women’s tournament will be a good indication as to how the conditions will be in this new venue. Harmanpreet Kaur’s girls are going to Japan on the back of a crushing Asia Cup victory, where they have walked past all the teams.There’s no reason to believe anything different will happen at Aichi-Nagoya as the men and women will look to lend a golden hue to the Indian campaign in addition to adding new fans for the sport itself with their dynamism.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.