Japan to Face India in One-Off T20I Ahead of Asian Games — SkimNews
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- Japan will field the same 15-member squad for both the September 22 one-off T20I against India in Sano and the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, excluding players eligible under ICC rules but ineligible under Asian Games rules for squad consistency
- Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming will captain Japan, having scored 1,871 runs across 55 T20Is at a strike rate of 139.41 — the country's leading run-scorer — with Ibrahim Takahashi and Declan Suzuki-McComb the other players with 50-plus T20Is
- The Suzuki Cup fixture stems from a summit agreement between Indian PM Narendra Modi and Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi and commemorates 75 years of India-Japan diplomatic relations
- India enter ranked No. 1 as reigning T20 World Cup champions, while Japan sit 41st in the ICC T20 rankings
- Japan face Afghanistan (September 24) and Nepal (September 26) in the Asian Games men's cricket competition and need a top-two group finish to reach the quarter-finals
- Leg-spinner Makoto Taniyama, Japan's leading wicket-taker and self-described Shane Warne admirer, plus rookie all-rounder Jake Kusuda-Nairn and medium pacer Tsuyoshi Takada round out the squad
Why it matters: Japan, ranked 41st, gain a rare competitive outing against world champion India as both tune up for the Asian Games, while the fixture formalizes a Modi-Takaichi summit accord and turns a 75-year diplomatic anniversary into an on-field contest — with India facing no ranking risk but limited preparation value against lower-tier opposition.
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