The Indian men's cricket team, led by Shreyas Iyer, has arrived in Japan to participate in the 2026 Asian Games. In addition to the main squad, three extra bowlers have also been sent to Japan.
These additional players—fast bowler Rasik Salam Dar from Jammu and Kashmir, Vicky Ostwal from Maharashtra, and Kartik Tyagi from Uttar Pradesh—were included as net bowlers. They are not part of the official 15-player squad for the Asian Games.
Their main purpose is to train in team sessions and prepare the batsmen for matches under game-like conditions.
All three athletes flew from New Delhi to Tokyo on the night of September 19. The Indian team will hold a training session at the Sano International Stadium on September 21, and on September 22, they will play a T20 friendly match against Japan. After this, the team will head to Nagoya to participate in the Asian Games.
The need for net bowlers arose after Nitish Kumar Reddy left the team for the Asian Games. As a result, only 14 players remained in the main Indian squad. Reddy was included in the national team for the upcoming series of home ODIs against West India.
The Indian Asian Games championship will begin on September 28. The men's cricket tournament in Japan is scheduled from September 24 to October 3.
The Indian squad for the 2026 Asian Games includes Shreyas Iyer (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dubey, Tilak Verma (vice-captain), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Akshar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, and Yash Thakur.