Asian Games: Rain threat looms over India-Afghanistan QF; what happens if match is washed out?

11 days after their last T20I face-off in Delhi, India and Afghanistan meet again at the ongoing Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 in Japan. The two Asian T20 powerhouses will play in the second quarterfinal on Monday (Sep 28), with persistent rain in Japan threatening to wash out this knockout match.

Rain has already hampered several results in the men’s competition and threatens to worsen during the four quarterfinals. Pakistan and Hong Kong will meet in the first quarterfinal before the India-Afghanistan match on Monday, and the remaining two quarterfinals will take place on Tuesday. Although the forecast remains the same for Tuesday, it is likely to change for the semifinals (Thursday) and the medal playoffs (Saturday).

What Happens if Rain Washes out IND-AFG Match?

If rain washes out the second Asian Games quarterfinal between India and Afghanistan, India will qualify for the semifinal, as the laws suggest the higher-ranked T20I team, per the ICC rankings, will advance through to the next round in such a case.

India is atop the T20I team rankings with 269 rating points, and Afghanistan is 10th.

Stark Difference in Squads

While the BCCI men’s selection committee picked the first-team squad for the Asian Games competition, including T20I captain Shreyas Iyer and premium quick Jasprit Bumrah, Afghanistan has sent their second-string side for the continental tournament. 13 of the 15 squad members were not part of the concluded T20I series against India, with only two retained: Darwish Rasooli (captain) and Abdollah Ahmadzai.

Afghanistan squad features six uncapped players and five others with fewer than 10 international appearances. Their combined T20I experience of 262 matches is only a fraction (30%) of India’s 872 games. There is no Rashid Khan, no Rahmanullah Gurbaz and no Mohammad Nabi, but Nabi's 20-year-old son Hassan Eisakhil is part of the squad.

Check out the predicted playing XIs of both teams –

India - Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh and Jasprit Bumrah

Afghanistan - Mohammad Akram, Hassan Eisakhil, Karim Janat, Darwish Rasooli (captain), Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Ishaq (wk), Ismat Alam, Nangeyalia Khan, Abdollah Ahmadzai, Faridoon Dawoodzai and Arab Gul.