IND vs AFG 2nd Quarter Final Results

4:20 AM IST 4.20 am GMT (9.50 am IST) - Oh, dear! Not the news we were hoping for. The rain wins the day at Nisshin, and the MATCH HAS BEEN ABANDONED WITHOUT A BALL BEING BOWLED. Under the tournament rules, the better-ranked side goes through when a knockout is washed out, so India move into the semifinals. It is Hangzhou all over again, where a rained-off final handed them the gold.

4:15 AM IST 4.14 am GMT (9.44 am IST) - All of that will matter only if the game actually gets underway. Right now, heavy rain is lashing Nisshin, and the toss has been officially delayed. For now, everyone waits and watches the skies.

4:09 AM IST Gold defence and selection dilemmas - India open their quest to retain the Gold Medal, and the biggest debate is about who gets the nod. Sooryavanshi sat out the one-off T20I against Japan, so his inclusion in this game is worth watching. Bumrah was rested too, which leaves India to decide whether to use him now or unleash him fresh for the semis and the final. Vipraj Nigam slots in with Axar and Bishnoi to make the most of spin friendly conditions. The bigger talking point is how the batters cope with these slow and low Japanese surfaces, having fairly struggled against the hosts in that game. The firepower is there, no doubt, but it needs to adapt quickly if it wants to fire here.

4:05 AM IST Desperation to break the hoodoo - Barely a couple of weeks ago, India blanked Afghanistan 3-0 in a bilateral T20I series, and the Afghans are still waiting for their first-ever T20I win against this opposition. The task looks even tougher now, with Gurbaz, Rashid Khan, Omarzai and Mohammad Nabi all missing from the squad. They do have the experience of Najibullah Zadran in batting but their bowling stocks look really thin with Abdollah Ahmadzai the one with some sort of experience. That leaves a young group under Darwish Rasooli to take on a powerhouse Indian outfit and try to end the wait.

4:01 AM IST The business end - Hello and welcome to Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin, where defending champions India walk into their Asian Games campaign straight into the business end. Afghanistan stand in the way of a semifinal berth, and this quarterfinal carries a familiar echo, a direct rematch of the Hangzhou 2023 final that rain snatched away from both sides. Shreyas Iyer leads a full-strength Indian unit dripping with experience. Whereas Darwish Rasooli’s Afghan brigade are coming off a stinging defeat to Nepal, but having finished second in Group A, they made it through.

4:00 AM IST ... QUARTER-FINAL 2 ...