India, Japan to meet in first-ever T20I ahead of Asian Games cricket
Shreyas Iyer's India play Japan in their maiden T20I on September 22, days before the Asian Games cricket event begins.
With men's cricket at the Asian Games set to begin, the Indian men's cricket team and Japan's men's cricket team are set to face off in a T20 International match. This will be the first T20I between the two sides. The Indian team, led by Shreyas Iyer, has already reached Japan for the Asian Games, and before the Games begin the team is set to play this T20 International against Japan. Both teams are fully prepared for the contest.
The match will start at 9:30 am on Tuesday, September 22. The toss will take place half an hour before the start of play. For the Indian team, having just arrived in Japan, this match will serve as a practice game, while the Japanese team too will get a chance to prepare. However, since it is an official international match, the statistics will also count toward the players' profiles.
Those wanting to watch the match on television can do so on the Star Sports network. To watch on mobile, laptop or smart TV, viewers will need to download the FanCode app. The match will not be available on JioHotstar, and there will be no live broadcast on the Sony Sports Network either.
In this one-off T20 against Japan, Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Abhishek Sharma could open the batting. Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Tilak Varma and Shivam Dube may get a chance to bat in the middle order. Washington Sundar could also be given a game, sharing the spin bowling duties with Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi. Arshdeep Singh and Jasprit Bumrah could feature as the two pace bowlers for India. It will be interesting to see who gets a chance in this practice match.
India's squad: Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Shivam Dube, Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Yash Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Washington Sundar, Vipraj Nigam, Vaibhav Suryavanshi.
Japan's squad includes Kendall Fleming (captain), Shirai Patmore (wicketkeeper), Alistair Fleming, Benjamin Ito-Davis, Reo Sakurano-Thomas, Kohei Kubota, Wataru Miyauchi, Declan Suzuki, Ibrahim Takahashi, Makoto Taniyama, Lachlan Yamamoto-Lake, Tsuyoshi Takada, Charlie Hara-Hinge, Shoma Slater and Jake Kusuda-Nairn.
