India’s cricket stars like Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer and several other players are set to make their Asian Games debut as the Indian men’s and women’s teams prepare to defend the gold medals they won at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou.

According to a press release from Sony Pictures Networks India, which holds the India media rights for the Asian Games, the men’s team will be led by Iyer and will feature Bumrah, Abhishek Sharma and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi among other players.

The 20^th Asian Games begin in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan and are set to play out officially from September 19 to October 4. Sony’s television and streaming networks will air the Games.

The women’s team will be led by Harmanpreet Kaur and includes players such as Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh.

India won the inaugural women’s cricket gold medal at the previous Asian Games and will enter the 2026 competition as the defending champions.

The women’s cricket competition will begin on September 17, followed by the men’s tournament from September 24. India’s women’s team will face Japan in the quarter-final on September 18 at 10.30 p.m.

Sony Sports Network will broadcast the cricket matches, while Sony LIV will stream them live. India’s matches will be available with commentary in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada.

Sony Sports Network’s studio show ‘Sports Extraaa’ will feature experts including Mithali Raj, Anjum Chopra, Reema Malhotra and WV Raman during the women’s competition. Ajay Jadeja and Sanjay Manjrekar will join WV Raman for the men’s tournament coverage.