Board of Management for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary Devajit Saikia at a press convention throughout a guided tour of the BCCI Centre of Excellence. File
| Photograph Credit score: PTI
BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia on Monday (September 7, 2026) stated the historic one-off T20 Worldwide between India and Japan this month shall be a major second in cricket’s journey to change into a world sport by connecting to a brand new viewers.
India and Japan are set to lock horns for the primary time in a historic T20I in Japan on September 22, forward of the lads’s cricket competitors on the Asian Video games in Aichi-Nagoya. The Video games will begin on September 19.
The match shall be performed on the Sano Worldwide Cricket Floor in Tochigi Prefecture. Performed beneath the banner of the Suzuki Cup, it’s going to commemorate the seventy fifth anniversary of India–Japan diplomatic relations.
Mr. Saikia stated the match is an effort of ICC chairman Jay Shah to take cricket to newer territories.
“Cricket’s international journey is being formed by moments that take the sport past its conventional boundaries. The India–Japan T20I match on twenty second September,’26 is one such second taking worldwide cricket to Japan, connecting with a brand new viewers and strengthening the sport’s presence in a area with immense potential,” Mr. Saikia wrote on ‘X’.
“Additionally it is a possibility to recognise the imaginative and prescient and groundwork laid by Shri Jay Shah throughout his tenure as BCCI Secretary, and now as ICC Chairman, in putting the worldwide development of cricket firmly on the coronary heart of the game’s future. From increasing cricket into new territories to constructing a stronger pathway in direction of the Olympic motion, the ambition has all the time been clear: make cricket extra accessible, extra inclusive and actually international,” he added.
Mr. Saikia stated BCCI is dedicated to working in direction of making cricket a world sport.
“India-Japan is greater than a cricket match. It represents the path by which our sport is shifting from a world ambition to a world actuality,” he stated.
“The journey has begun. And there’s way more to return.” Ranked No.1, India are the reigning T20 World Cup champions, whereas Japan are positioned forty first in ICC T20 rankings.
The match will even assist India acclimatise to Japanese circumstances and provides them worthwhile recreation time to fine-tune mixtures and construct momentum forward of the Asian Video games.
Seeded straight into the knockout stage, India will start their Asian Video games marketing campaign within the quarterfinals on September 28.
The Indian workforce shall be led by Shreyas Iyer, with vice-captain Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson and teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi among the many key names within the squad.
Printed – September 07, 2026 12:03 pm IST
