Cricket plans for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 have hit a late, awkward spotlight, with leading Asian boards suddenly uneasy about where their players will stay and where they will actually play.
At the heart of the concern: a makeshift venue in Nisshin City and a set of accommodation options that the continent’s heavyweight teams find deeply underwhelming.
Big teams, small patience
The mood at the recent Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting in Bangkok was anything but relaxed. Representatives of the Test-playing nations — India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan — raised pointed questions over preparations for an event that is less than two years away and already locked into the global calendar.
“There’s concern from the big boys,” is how one source framed it. The description fits. Between them, those five boards control most of the region’s star power and broadcast pull, and they are unimpressed by what is currently on the table.
Teams have been presented with three choices for accommodation:
- base themselves in a city and commute to the venue by bullet train,
- stay on a ship anchored nearby,
- or move into marquee tents.
For squads packed with frontline international players, none of those options feel remotely like elite-level provision. Within the ACC, there is a growing sense that the body, headed by Pakistan’s Mohsin Naqvi, reacted late. Other continental federations, across different sports, moved quickly to secure hotel blocks and athlete housing. Cricket’s regional body did not, and the gap is now showing.
A ground still finding its feet
If the lodging situation has raised eyebrows, the venue has triggered outright scrutiny.
The cricket facility earmarked for the Games is a temporary set-up, closer in feel to an Associate nation outground than to a major tournament stadium. There are no proper dressing rooms yet, and the infrastructure remains in transition.
ICC CEO Sanjog Gupta recently tried to strike a balanced note in a social media post, sharing a video of a lush, green outfield while acknowledging the unfinished work.
He wrote that the venue “is almost ready and is set to be unveiled at the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026,” before adding that “there is still some work to be done before it can welcome 10 men’s and 8 women’s teams from Asia and match officials as well as fans from across the world but the team ACC and ICC is on the job (sic).”
The official Asian Games description paints a more polished picture, calling it “a sports park located in Nisshin City, where a cricket ground was developed for the Asian Games,” and noting that it is only the second facility in Japan with a natural grass pitch that meets international competition standards. Japan has already staged an ICC pathway tournament there this May, a useful test but a far cry from the scale and scrutiny of a multi-sport Games.
Late inspections, rising unease
Inside the ACC, the response has been to send in the inspectors. One member told Cricbuzz that a team will travel to Japan to assess both the ground and the living arrangements. The admission came with an uncomfortable caveat: this might be happening too late in the day.
In India, the issue has already landed on the desks of the BCCI and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). Sources say the two bodies discussed the situation and that a member of the BCCI operations team was scheduled to fly out to Japan to review the set-up on the ground. As of early this week, there was no confirmation that the trip had actually taken place.
Japan Cricket Association (JCA) CEO Alex Miyaji was approached for comment but had not responded at the time of writing.
Full-strength India locked in
Amid the logistical doubts, one decision stands firm: India are sending full-strength men’s and women’s sides, led by regular captains Shreyas Iyer and Harmanpreet Kaur.
Reports in some quarters suggested India might downgrade to “B” teams. Officials have pushed back on that, stressing that no such move has been made and that it is effectively too late to overhaul the squads. Changes are now only possible in case of injury, as seen with Jemimah Rodrigues, who has been replaced by Pratika Rawal.
That commitment raises the stakes. If the biggest draw in Asian cricket is travelling with its first-choice squads, the pressure on organisers and the ACC to deliver acceptable conditions intensifies.
Tight schedule, open questions
The cricket competition will run in the T20 format, starting on September 17, two days before the official opening ceremony on September 19. The women’s final is slated for September 22, while the men’s gold-medal match will close the cricket schedule on October 3, with the Games ending on October 4.
There is talk of the Indian men’s team playing a friendly against Japan on September 22, a fixture that would serve both as a showcase for the hosts and a soft launch for the venue under full glare. Officials from both the BCCI and JCA, however, have not confirmed that plan.
For now, the picture is clear but uncomfortable. The dates are fixed. The squads are named. The ground is “almost ready.” The accommodation options are on the table.
The question, for Asia’s cricket powers and for Japan’s emerging cricket project, is whether “almost” will be good enough when the first ball is bowled.
