21 September,2026 04:44 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Shreyas Iyer (Pic: File Pic)
Team India is set to lock horns with Japan in the historic T20I match on September 22. The clash is scheduled to be played at the Sano International Cricket Ground in Sano.
Ahead of the match, Team India's skipper Shreyas Iyer said that he never thought of playing cricket in Japan, and is also hopeful for an exciting match against the Japanese team.
"No, I never thought about it, but yes, I mean, cricket is picking up in every country now, and all the teams are becoming dominant in their own ways, so I'm sure this will be an exciting match as well tomorrow," he said.
The skipper then said that the people in Japan are very cordial and generous.
"It's beautiful. 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," said Iyer.
Earlier, Japan's captain Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming said, "It's very exciting. And I think a massive development for cricket in Japan to have countries like Afghanistan and Nepal coming here is something that we probably would have thought was very difficult to manage even a couple of years ago".
"As exciting as the occasion will be of playing India, we're not there to just celebrate the occasion. We're there to show what we can do as a men's team. Obviously, a team like India have all bases covered, whether it's fast bowling, batting or spin. So it's just going to be great to be able to watch world-class players and the best team in the world in that format go about it," he added.
The clash between Team India and Japan will be the first event under "Sport 75", an initiative arising from an agreement reached during a summit between Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The initiative aims to strengthen people-to-people exchanges and cooperation between the two countries through sport.
Japan will also face Hong Kong in two T20Is on September 19 and 20 before beginning their Asian Games campaign against Afghanistan on September 24 and Nepal on September 26. They will need to finish in the top two to advance to the quarter-finals.
India: Shreyas Iyer (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (VC), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yash Thakur, Vipraj Nigam.
Japan: Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming (C), Charlie Hara-Hinze, Benjamin Ito-Davis, Alester Kadowaki-Fleming, Kohei Kubota, Jake Kusuda-Nairn, Wataru Miyauchi (wk), Reo Sakurano-Thomas, Alex Shirai-Patmore (wk), Shoma Sugaya-Slater, Declan Suzuki-McComb, Tsuyoshi Takada, Ibrahim Takahashi, Makoto Taniyama, Lachlan Yamamoto-Lake.
(With PTI Inputs)
