Japan took India to the last over on Tuesday, and Afghanistan bowled them out for 81

Japan’s batters went into the Asian Games off a match against India that came down to the final over. On Thursday, in the first men’s cricket match of the Games, they could not get past 81 against Afghanistan’s spinners, and Afghanistan won by 48 runs at the Kōrogi Sports Park in Nisshin.

The margin mattered less than who did the damage. Arab Gul Momand, a leg-spinner playing his first T20 international, took 4 for 8 from his four overs. Japan were all out in 19.3 overs.

129 was never a big total

Japan won the toss and bowled, and for most of the morning the decision looked sound. Afghanistan finished on 129 for 6, which is a modest score on any ground and not an imposing one on a new hybrid square that organisers have said offers bounce and turn.

Mohammad Akram, another debutant, opened and top-scored with 34 from 29 balls. Captain Darwish Rasooli made 29 from 27, and wicketkeeper Mohammad Ishaq added 25 from 17 near the end to push the total past 120. Shoma Sugaya-Slater and off-spinner Ibrahim Takahashi took two wickets each for Japan.

Then the spinners came on

Reo Sakurano-Thomas was Japan’s top scorer with 23, and Benjamin Ito-Davis hit 17 from eight balls. Nobody else got going. Arab Gul’s four wickets came for eight runs, left-arm spinner Nangeyalia Kharoti took three, and seamer Abdullah Ahmadzai had 2 for 13.

It is a different result from the one Japan produced on 22 September at Sano, when their spinners held India to 32 for 4 in a five-over game and India won by two runs. That was a shortened match on a wet outfield. This was 20 overs against an attack built to bowl spin on slow surfaces, and the gap showed.

Why India will be watching Group A

Group A has three teams: Afghanistan, Japan and Nepal. Afghanistan play Nepal on Friday, and Japan play Nepal on Saturday. The top two go through, and the runners-up meet India in the quarter-final on Monday, 28 September.

Afghanistan have two points from one game. If they beat Nepal they top the group and play Sri Lanka instead. That would leave India facing either Japan, whom they have already met this week, or Nepal. Afghanistan took silver at all three previous Asian Games cricket tournaments, the last of them in 2023 when India won gold on ranking after the final was washed out. On Thursday’s evidence, their spinners will not make the path to a fourth final an easy one for anyone.

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