India, Japan to play men’s T20I ahead of Asian Games
The Indian men’s cricket team will take on Japan in their first-ever T20 International on September 22, marking the launch of celebrations for the 75th anniversary of India-Japan diplomatic relations.
The match, to be played in Sano in Japan, will offer the Indian team valuable game time to fine-tune combinations and build momentum ahead of the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya from September 19 to October 4.
“The Japan Cricket Association (JCA) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are delighted to announce that the men’s teams from each nation will play a T20 International match to launch the celebrations of the 75th anniversary of India-Japan Diplomatic Relations,” said BCCI in a statement.
The teams will compete for the Suzuki Cup at the Sano International Cricket Ground in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan.
“The match will be the first step of ‘Sport 75’, an initiative that stems from an agreement reached during a summit between Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and aims to promote human exchanges and cooperation between India and Japan in the field of sports, taking note of India’s ambition to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2036,” the statement added.
The Indian team will be led by Shreyas Iyer, with vice-captain Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson and teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi among the key names in the squad. India are the defending Asian Games champions after claiming gold at the previous edition in Hangzhou, China, where their final against Afghanistan was washed out by rain and they were awarded the title on the basis of their higher T20I seeding.
