Pakistan to play Asian Games cricket semi-final

Heavy rain forced the first quarter-final of the men's cricket Asian Games 2026 between Pakistan and Hong Kong to be abandoned on Monday morning, with no ball bowled, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Under the tournament's playing conditions, Pakistan will advance to the semi-finals by virtue of ranking higher than Hong Kong in the ICC rankings and will play the winner of the fourth quarter-final between Bangladesh and Malaysia on Thursday.

Play was called off at the time of the toss because of incessant showers in Nisshin throughout the day. 

The broadcast showed a large part of the ground under covers as the heavy rain continued to pour at the venue.

While Pakistan was one of the four seeded teams, the others being India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, to directly qualify for the quarter-finals, Hong Kong had made it to the quarter-finals by finishing second in the three-team Group B after beating Malaysia by eight wickets and losing to Oman by 41 runs.

This would have been the third T20I between these two sides. Pakistan had beaten Hong Kong at the 2022 Asia Cup and 2023 Asian Games.

Sahibzada Farhan is captaining a 15-member Pakistan squad that includes T20 internationals such as Saim Ayub, Abrar Ahmed, Haider Ali and Mohammad Wasim Jr. Mike Hesson is the team's head coach.

Pakistan's semi-final will be played on October 1, with the bronze-medal match and final scheduled for October 3.