Pakistan face Bangladesh in the first men’s cricket semi-final of the Asian Games 2026 today, with the match starting at 5:30 AM IST at the Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin, Japan. The winners advance to the gold-medal match on October 3.

In a quirk of the tournament, neither side has played a single match in Japan. All four quarter-finals were abandoned without a ball bowled after persistent rain, and both teams progressed on their higher seeding — Pakistan’s tie against Hong Kong and Bangladesh’s against Malaysia never got started.

Pakistan, led by Sahibzada Farhan, field a second-string squad blending experience with domestic talent. Bangladesh, captained by Litton Das, are near full strength and will bank on their spin options — Rishad Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Mahedi Hasan and Mosaddek Hossain — on a surface expected to turn.

The fixture is a rematch of the 2023 bronze-medal clash, which Bangladesh won dramatically when Yasir Ali smashed 16 off Sufiyan Muqeem’s final over. The match will be shown live on the Sony Sports Network and streamed on SonyLIV. If rain intervenes again, higher-seeded Pakistan go through.