Before flying to Japan for the 2026 Asian Games and a one-off T20I match against the Japanese men’s national cricket team, the Indian team management made several decisions, including some additions and an exclusion.
Fresh reports claimed that the Shreyas Iyer-led Team India has left for Japan with three more blowers along with the main squad. These three players are there for net sessions in Japan as part of the main team’s preparations. Who are these three net bowlers?
Two RCB and one KKR fast bowler are with the 2026 Asian Games team
Well, they are well known for their stints in the Indian Premier League (IPL) with their respective franchises. Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) Rasikh Salam Dar, Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) express pacer Kartik Tyagi, and Vicky Ostwal, another RCB prodigy, have been picked by the national selectors as unofficial members of the Japan-bound Indian contingent, as reported by Cricbuzz.
The move makes sense as the Indian cricket team will need extra blowers for practice sessions as they will have to stay in Japan for weeks. As the defending champions of the 2926 Asian Games, they are allowed to start directly from the quarter-finals, skipping the entire group stage, but the one-off match against Japan makes the tour long.
A long schedule for Team India in Japan
The Indian team will have a practice session on September 21 at Sano International Stadium for the one-off match against the host nation on the following day. According to the schedule, the Men in Blue will face Japan for a single match on September 22 at the Sano Stadium, and their Asian Games campaign will start on September 28; a five-day gap between the Japan match and the September 28th match.
For the Asian Games, the team will have to travel from Sano to Nagoya. During the stay in Sano, the three additional members will be needed for the practice sessions.
Nitish Kumar Reddy will not travel to Japan
Along with the additions, the selectors made a slight official exclusion as well in the main team. Nitish Kumar Reddy was previously asked to travel with the Japan-bound squad, but in a fresh change, he has been removed from the team to join the players who will face West Indies at home for a white-ball series.
The young pace bowling allrounder remains in India for the India vs West Indies series. Without Nitish Kumar Reddy, India’s Asian Games squad is now limited to 14 players and three net bowlers, who are not included in the main team.
Previously published reports suggested that the Men in Blue could take their flight to Japan on Sunday (September 20), but according to the Cricbuzz report, the team is believed to have left New Delhi for Tokyo on Saturday (September 19) night.
As the 2026 Games and the West Indies series are set to run at the same time, the two different sets of players will be under the guidance of two different sets of coaches as well. The team for the West Indies series will be under the coaching of Gautam Gambhir, and the team for the Asian Games will be trained under VVS Laxman.
