{"id":1747,"date":"2026-08-28T08:37:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T08:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/08\/28\/asian-games-cricket-venue-scrutiny\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T08:37:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T08:37:29","slug":"asian-games-cricket-venue-scrutiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/08\/28\/asian-games-cricket-venue-scrutiny\/","title":{"rendered":"Asian Games cricket venue under scrutiny as boards raise safety concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Quick Adsense WordPress Plugin: http:\/\/quickadsense.com\/ -->\n<div class=\"9fece8afa224fd09e54b043d0febfb58\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- NR ATF -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8898941184964366\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"4839033563\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>The cricket competition at the 2026 Asian Games is set to kick off on 17 September, two days before the Games\u2019 opening ceremony. The matches will be staged at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin, a small city east of Nagoya, where a recently prepared surface will host some of the continent\u2019s leading cricketers, including India\u2019s captain Shreyas Iyer, fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah and emerging talent Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.<\/p>\n<h2>Venue flagged for inadequate facilities<\/h2>\n<p>Korogi Sports Park was originally a baseball field and still retains a pitcher\u2019s mound just beyond the playing boundary. The ground\u2019s conversion to a cricket venue has drawn criticism from several national boards. According to a report in The Indian Express, the pitch was laid only a few weeks ago and has seen limited use \u2013 a solitary tournament in May \u2013 leaving its behaviour largely untested. A source familiar with the situation described the ground as \u201cvery rudimentary\u201d, noting that the quality of the pitch remains uncertain.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond the playing surface, the venue reportedly lacks proper dressing rooms, and the nearby accommodation consists of very small hotel rooms that may be unable to accommodate a player\u2019s kit bag. These shortcomings have amplified worries among teams that will travel to Japan for the event.<\/p>\n<h2>Boards voice alarm, ACC to inspect<\/h2>\n<p>The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was the first to raise the alarm, doing so during an Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting earlier in the month. Following Pakistan\u2019s complaint, representatives from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and other member boards joined the discussion. The consensus was to dispatch ACC officials to evaluate both the playing area and the players\u2019 lodging before the tournament proceeds.<\/p>\n<p>In response to the concerns, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) approached the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the Asian Games Organising Committee for clarification. An IOA official clarified that the body does not handle technical aspects of individual sports, and advised the BCCI to coordinate directly with the Games\u2019 organising committee for any necessary interventions.<\/p>\n<h2>India\u2019s schedule and expectations<\/h2>\n<p>India\u2019s women\u2019s team, led by captain Harmanpreet Kaur, will open their campaign against the host nation Japan on 17 September at Korogi Sports Park. The men\u2019s side, seeded directly into the quarter\u2011finals, will begin their run on 28 September, also at the same venue. Both squads are expected to arrive in Nagoya around 14 or 15 September, giving them a brief window to acclimatise and assess the facilities.<\/p>\n<p>The women\u2019s tournament features eight teams and starts straight from the quarter\u2011final stage, while the men\u2019s competition involves ten teams, with six sides contesting a preliminary round before the quarter\u2011finals. India\u2019s seeding in both events means the teams bypass the opening round, positioning them for a relatively short but high\u2011stakes campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Japan\u2019s push to promote cricket in a country traditionally dominated by baseball aligns with the International Cricket Council\u2019s long\u2011standing aim to develop the sport in new markets. However, the rapid conversion of a baseball ground into a cricket venue, combined with the reported lack of essential amenities, has intensified scrutiny from participating nations.<\/p>\n<p>As the ACC prepares its inspection mission, the focus will be on confirming whether the pitch meets international standards and whether the accommodation can safely house the athletes and their equipment. The outcome of these assessments could influence any last\u2011minute adjustments required to ensure a safe and competitive environment for the Asian Games cricket tournament.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Boards from Pakistan, India and other Asian nations have warned that the makeshift Korogi Sports Park in Japan may not meet cricket standards ahead of the Asian Games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[299],"tags":[1661,273,1662,1663,535],"class_list":["post-1747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-asian-games","tag-bcci","tag-cricket-venue","tag-korogi-sports-park","tag-pcb","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}