Asian Games 2026: Olympic Hockey Qualification, Cricket And Kabaddi Dominance In Focus As India Eyes Gold In Team Sports

From drag-flicking superstar hockey player Harmanpreet Singh to skipper Shreyas Iyer to kabaddi star Sunil Kumar, some of India's best in team sports will be leading the country’s effort at the Asian Games starting in Japan from September 19. 

While every discipline, from athletics to badminton to shooting, will offer plenty of star power and thrill,  eyes will also be on team sports events in which India excels - cricket, hockey and kabaddi.

Cricket
 
Indian men's and women's cricket teams will be defending their gold medals at Japan and would be aiming to recreate the historic double achieved during the 2022 edition at Hangzhou. 

During Team India's previous visit to the Asian Games in Hangzhou, some of India's future T20 World Cup-winning stars brought the gold medal to India, beating Afghanistan on basis of being a higher-seeded team after the final was washed out. The team was led by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain and Indian middle-order batter Ruturaj Gaikwad. In the women's final against Sri Lanka, India won by 19 runs while defending 117 runs, with Titas Sadhu taking 3/6 and reducing Sri Lanka to 97/8. The women's side was led by Harmanpreet Kaur. 

Now, the men's team will be led by 'Sarpanch Sahab', Shreyas Iyer, India's T20 captain and the women's team will be led by Harmanpreet, who achieved her biggest career-defining moment last year by leading India to their maiden 50-over World Cup on home soil, beating South Africa. The women’s competition commences on September 18 against Japan in the quarterfinal, followed by the men’s tournament from September 24. The Indian team's men's cricket opener is undecided, with a qualifying tournament to decide their opponent.

The presence of several of India’s leading international players makes this one of the country’s strongest cricket contingents at the Asian Games.

Shreyas, who has won an Indian Premier League (IPL) title with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) for Mumbai as a captain and lead Delhi Capitals (DC) and in 2025, Punjab Kings (PBKS) to the IPL finals, will be aiming to get another accolade as a captain. 

Cricket has been a part of the Asian Games since 2010. While India did not participate in the 2010 and 2014 editions, and gold was captured by Bangladesh (2010 men's title), Sri Lanka (2014 men's title) and Pakistan (women's title in 2010 and 2014), one more medal sweep could make India the most decorated team in Asian Games cricket. Cricket did not feature in the 2018 edition in Australia. 
 

The biggest superstar during the cricket tournament at the Asian Games would be the 15-year-old boy wonder Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who has taken the cricketing world by storm with his exceptional power and six-hitting abilities. During the tour to England in July, Vaibhav became the youngest Indian international cricketer at the age of 15 years and 99 days, outdoing batting icon Sachin Tendulkar's longstanding record. In six T20Is for India, Sooryavanshi has scored 193 runs at a strike rate of 189.21, with two fifties and a best score of 81. 

In 40 T20s so far, Sooryavanshi has made 1,670 runs at an average of 42.82, with a strike rate of 216.32, including four centuries and eight fifties. The 15-year-old prodigy walked home with the Orange Cap for most runs and the 'Player of the Tournament' award in this year's IPL, with 778 runs in 16 innings at an average of 48.50 and a strike rate of 237.30, including a century and five fifties. 

In women's cricket, the leading run-getter in women's international cricket, Smriti Mandhana (10,950 runs with 18 centuries) and the leading wicket-taker in women's international cricket, spinner Deepti Sharma (373 scalps) will be aiming to push forward their legacy-defining, record-extending numbers.

Deepti, who has 182 T20I wickets, would be aiming to taking more steps towards becoming the first-ever woman cricketer to have 200 T20I scalps, while Smriti will be eyeing the crown of highest T20I run-getter, being just eight runs short of New Zealand batter Suzie Bates (4,758 runs). 

*India men’s cricket squad for Asian Games 2026: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (vice-captain), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Vipraj Nigam, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Thakur, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

*India women’s cricket squad for Asian Games: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wicket-keeper), G. Kamalini (wicket-keeper), Bharti Fulmali, Sree Charani, Renuka Thakur, Kranti Gaud, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil (subject to fitness), Radha Yadav, Nandni Sharma, Pratika Rawal.

Hockey

The Indian men's hockey team have a chance of making history. The eight-time Olympic gold medalists have won four Asian Games gold medals. In the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games men's tournament final, India had thrashed Japan 5-1 to secure the gold under the captaincy of Harmanpreet Singh. 

If India manages to secure a gold medal at the Asian Games, they will have a red carpet laid out for them for the Los Angeles Olympics 2028, as they will earn a direct spot in the all-important multi-sport extravaganza. India has been a dominant side at the Asian Games historically, having never lost the podium except for the 2006 edition in Doha, when the men's team finished fifth. Other than that, they have won nine silver medals and three bronze medals. 

A gold-medal-winning campaign in Japan will be a massive confidence booster for Harmanpreet and Craig Fulton's side, which had an underwhelming FIH Men's Hockey World Cup recently, finishing at eighth place.

*Indian men's hockey team: Harmanpreet Singh (captain), Mohith HS, Suraj Karkera, Jarmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Jugraj Singh, Sanjay, Sumit, Yashdeep Siwach, Rajinder Singh, Raj Kumar Pal, Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Dilpreet Singh, Shilanand Lakra, Sukhjeet Singh, Mandeep Singh, Abhishek. 
 

Kabaddi 

Another team sport that will be a booster to India's medal tally, particularly in gold medals, is kabaddi. Since the debut of the sport in men's team competition at the 1990 Asian Games, India has won gold at eight out of nine editions, except for a bronze medal finish in the 2018 edition in Australia. 

Women's kabaddi was introduced in the 2010 edition, and since then, India has been among the medalists there too, having won three gold medals and a silver.

Overall, with 11 golds, a silver and a bronze each (total 13), India is the most successful team in kabaddi at the Asian Games, with Iran (two golds, four silvers and two bronze, a total of eight medals), being the second-best side. 

In the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games edition, India beat Iran 33-29 to capture the gold medal in men's competition. India also edged past Chinese Taipei 26-25 in the women's gold medal match. 

*Indian men's kabaddi team: Sunil Kumar (captain), Ankit Jaglan, Devank Dalal, Rahul Sethpal, Sumit, Jaideep Dahiya, Ayan Lochab, Arjun Deshwal, Aslam Inamdar, Gaurav Khatri, Pawan Sehrawat, Ashu Malik

*Indian women's kabaddi team: Pushpa Rana (captain), Jyoti Thakur, Nikita Hathwala, Pooja, Raj Rani, Ritu Sheoran, Bhavna Devi, Sanju Devi, Manisha Kumari, Ritu Negi, Pinki Roy, Sonali Vishnu Shingate

India will be aiming to make it better than their Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games campaign, where they secured 107 medals, including 28 gold, 38 silver and 41 bronze.