Nepal have won six T20Is in a row, and a washout in Nisshin would still send Sri Lanka through
Sri Lanka go into Tuesday’s Asian Games quarter-final with the rain rule on their side. Nepal arrive with the form.
Sep 28, 2026
If it rains in Nisshin on Tuesday morning, Sri Lanka are in the Asian Games semi-finals without facing a ball. That is how India and Pakistan got there on Monday, and the forecast for Kōrogi Sports Park does not offer Nepal much comfort.
The third quarter-final is due to start at 9am local time on 29 September, which is 5:30am in India. The playing conditions send the higher-seeded side through when a knockout game is washed out, and Sri Lanka, one of the four seeds handed a bye to the quarter-finals, hold that edge. The winner plays India in the semi-finals on 1 October.
Rain has run the tournament since Saturday
Nobody has bowled a ball at the ground since Saturday. That was the day Nepal reached 149 for 4 in 15 overs against Japan, with Sundeep Jora on 57 not out from 32 balls and Lokesh Bam on 52 not out from 22, before the weather ended it. Both of Monday’s quarter-finals were abandoned without a toss. Pakistan went through against Hong Kong and India against Afghanistan, both as the higher-ranked side.
The outlook for Tuesday is more of the same, with rain forecast until at least 6pm local time.
Nepal are the team in form
If the game does happen, it would be the first completed men’s T20I between the two. Their only other scheduled meeting, at the 2024 T20 World Cup in Florida, was washed out before the toss.
Nepal come in on a six-match winning run in T20Is. The latest came here, by five wickets against a second-string Afghanistan side. Kushal Bhurtel took 4 for 21 with his spin, Lalit Rajbanshi 3 for 13, Afghanistan finished on 102 for 7, and Nepal got home in 17.2 overs. That result, with the Japan washout, left Nepal top of Group A.
Bhurtel has had two quiet innings with the bat in Japan, but he is Nepal’s leading run-scorer in 2026 with 522 runs at a strike rate of 180. He also has three T20I hundreds. Dipendra Singh Airee captains a side that looks close to full strength.
Sri Lanka have sent a young squad
Sri Lanka rank ninth in the ICC’s T20I table and Nepal 14th, but the side in Japan is not the one that played England this month. Sahan Arachchige leads a squad with four uncapped players, while Niroshan Dickwella is back in the T20I side for the first time since 2021.
The ranking also flatters recent form. England swept Sri Lanka 3-0 in the T20Is earlier in September, and Sri Lanka did not reach 150 in any of the three games. They have won one of their last ten T20Is.
Given a full 20 overs each, Nepal would start as the side in form. The forecast suggests they may not get them.