IND vs JPN Live Cricket Score, India vs Japan T20 Match 2026

We probably would have bowled, just to give the crowd an opportunity to see some of the best players in the world go at it here. But yeah, I was happy either way. [How are the nerves and how are the boys feeling?] Yeah, it's just pure excitement, I think. It's starting to sink in now. You know, we've tossed, we're ready to play. But yeah, it's an amazing opportunity for the players and the broader cricket community. So hopefully we can put on a show. [What do you want to bring to the table from a Japanese point of view?] Yeah, obviously there's quite a few Indian supporters that have come out, but the more people that watch cricket in Japan, the better. So we're very grateful for everyone that's come out here and for everyone that's made the game possible. There are a lot of people working through the night, volunteers, our team that was here all through the night as well. And so we're extremely grateful to everyone that's made this game happen, the BCCI, the JCA, our sponsors, Suzuki and as I said, we're just excited to rip in now. [How good is this test for the Asian Games for you?] Yeah, it's amazing. The reigning world champions to come here to Sano, we wouldn't have believed it if you said that a few years ago to us. And then to play against another full member next week is another wonderful opportunity for our men's team. But at this stage, we've got our hands full, so we're fully focused on this game.

We want to bat first. It's a big occasion, and we know the friendship you mentioned, 75 years of friendship. So it's going to be an exciting one, and we wanted to explore the conditions as well. I never envisioned that I would be coming to Japan and captaining one day. I know the baseball is quite big over here, but today, yeah, I'm standing right here. The crowd is decent, there are a lot of supporters, so it's important that we give them something back, and also the crowd watching us from back home. It's important that this match happened, and it's happening today. So looking forward for an exciting one. [What are the things you just need to crease out ahead of that Asian Games campaign?] It's important that we know the conditions and we are aware of what's happening around us. We know that this is actually going to be the conditions that are going to be offered in the Asian Games as well. We don't know how the pitches are over there, but definitely this game, this particular game, is going to be of a great practice for us heading into that, and yeah, just waiting for that moment to arrive.

A lot of our players work full-time or part-time, or are students, and cricket is separate to that. If you have a full-time job, you work your training and playing commitments around it, and hopefully you have an understanding employer. At best, players receive an allowance when they travel on tour, and a couple of meals. We try to cover all the costs at tournaments so players aren’t out of pocket.

Another problem is distance. A lot of our players travel long distances to reach national team grounds. I’m in Sano right now, which is a bit more than an hour north of Tokyo. It’s a smallish town, and where we have access to land, we can develop cricket grounds. Not just national players but club cricketers may travel at least an hour and a half to a game or even a training session.

Honestly, when we were told that we might get to play against India, I wasn’t sure it was going to eventuate, but it is happening now. Credit to the Indian team for agreeing to play. Not every team would. I get a sense from India that they’re not lowering themselves by playing Japan, but trying to lift everyone else up to make cricket a global sport. I’ve sensed a lot of positivity from the Indian coaches and team managers I’ve spoken to, and I’m really looking forward to it.

It’s still hard to compete against established sports in Japan. You’d think of baseball and now soccer as the two biggest, and a few other sports are more developed than cricket. We have to offer something pretty good. Cricket and baseball are both bat-and-ball sports, but baseball at junior level in Japan can be quite rigid. We try to provide a cricketing experience that’s more fun, which I think we can do. But kids have so many options these days, and cricket is just one of them. It’s a struggle and something we’ve worked very hard at for a long time. To be really successful, we’d want thousands and thousands of kids playing cricket all day, every day, and we don’t quite have that yet.

It has improved exponentially. We now have four divisions of 40-over cricket and about 85 senior men’s T20 teams playing in the Japan Cup T20 and a few other tournaments and leagues. The club scene is pretty well established now. There are some big clubs in Tokyo that you’d probably call Indian clubs, because most of the players are Indian men who moved to Japan for work but also love their club cricket. Some of those clubs have six or seven senior men’s teams, plus under-19 and under-15 teams and even women’s teams.

I spent four years here, 2004 to 2008. I was working in Australia at the time and decided to do something completely different. There was a high demand for teaching roles in Japan back then, so I did a bit of that. There was a lot of exchange between Australia and Japan at that time, with many Australians visiting, and I was one of them. I got some insight into the culture and a bit of the language. Around then I also got involved in club cricket in Japan, which was at a very basic level. One of the first things I did in 2004 was join a cricket club, the Chiba Sharks.

I’m from Melbourne, where I played a lot of club cricket. I joined the Japan Cricket Association in 2014, but I was already familiar with Japanese culture, a bit of the language and the Japan cricket scene before that.

Japan Cricket is a very small operation compared to some other countries, such as India, so you end up filling a lot of different roles. I’ve done a lot over that journey: not just coaching but community cricket, trying to grow the game, and managing domestic leagues and tournaments. I’ve floated through a few coaching roles, including women’s coach and under-19 coach. I took a team to the 2020 Under-19 World Cup, where we played India and got soundly beaten.

"It's beautiful. I mean, the time we landed, we saw the people, very cordial, generous and helpful in nature, which we see it back at home as well. The hospitality is brilliant and, yeah, I mean, it's too early to talk about it, but I'm sure that I've heard special things from people about Japan as a country and Tokyo as a city as well. So looking forward to explore more," he said.

"It's completely different from what we've been used to doing in terms of going to Australia, England, New Zealand. It's our very first time, and the culture and the people are very different in terms of how they are, in terms of discipline. So I am someone who loves to embrace new culture and get used to the vibe and the accommodation as quickly as possible. So this is a new challenge for us and definitely looking forward to it," he said.

“Obviously, it’s a great thing that cricket is played in Japan, and obviously you guys are playing a franchise league as well in Japan. It’s only gonna reach a lot more people across the world. And yes, I’m not too sure when it happens, or when is the time in the year it happens, but yes, we will make sure we have a track of this league.”

“So, you know, obviously looking forward to play a lot of games here and understand the conditions, what the conditions are like here, and have a great experience in Japan. Obviously, playing a big tournament like Asian Games, it’s just a great blessing for all of us to be here, and if we could play some good cricket and win the gold medal as well, I think we would all carry all the memories through the tour and obviously the gold medal for a very, very long time,” he said.

“I mean, some of my friends have already come over here, and they’ve always told me that you can expect Japan to be, when you experience Japan, you can expect it to be at least 10-15 years ahead of time. And yes, I mean, we’ve not had much time to go out yet, but it just looks really beautiful. The facilities are amazing, especially this hotel and around the hotel, everything is so clean.”

“He’s just extremely skillful. And obviously, he’s got a great head as well. He understands his own game and also understands how to win battles against different oppositions and different conditions as well. He’s extremely smart. And being really smart, along with the kind of skill sets that he’s got, is obviously going to be a dangerous combo. And he’s already shown us what he’s capable of. And obviously, we can all expect him to win a lot of games for our country,” Sundar said in a press conference on Monday.

Hello and welcome to our live blog of India taking on Japan in the only T20I in Sano on Tuesday. It will be a good opportunity for the Japanese to test their skills against the best in cricket and see where they stand. For India under Shreyas Iyer, there are no easy games at this level, as the Ireland series would have reminded them that they would need to be professional and clinical in the match. Do stay with us to get all the live updates from the game.

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