Rain threat looms over Japan's chance to get a glimpse of top-flight cricket

On the way to England for the 1930 Ashes, the ship carrying the Australia Test cricketers made a whistlestop in Sri Lanka, then Ceylon. It was customary for Ashes-bound teams to make whistlestops in Ceylon and play a day of cricket, but in 1930 the great Don Bradman played there, a good 45 years before Sri Lanka played international cricket.

In Japan to participate in the Asian Games, the India T20 international team, world champions and the most popular cricket team in the world by some distance, will take a detour to the small town of Sano to play a one-off T20I against Japan. Bradman jumping off the ship and stretching his limbs by playing cricket in Ceylon finally has an equivalent.

Japan are already an international side thanks to ICC's drive to spread the game and give international status to every member nation's T20 side, but they are arguably farther away from top-flight cricket than Sri Lanka were in 1930.

Flying high on that win, Japan will get a chance to see up close how the global superstars go about their business: technique, preparation, tactics, routines etc. In the process, if they can manage to give India a scare, this will become a year to never forget for Japan.

Form guide

Japan LWWLW (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
India WWWWW

In the spotlight: Kendall Kadowaki-Fleming and Jasprit Bumrah

Son of a Japanese mother and Australian father, the 30-year-old Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming is Japan's captain and highest run-getter in international cricket. Along with opening partner Lachlan Yamamoto-Lake, he holds the record for the biggest partnership for any wicket in any T20 match when they took Japan to 258 for 0 against China in 2024. He will be the biggest attraction from the home team.

While playing Jasprit Bumrah is an unenviable challenge, it is also an honour not afforded to every international cricketer as India look to optimise what he can get from his injury-prone body. Kadowaki-Fleming could be getting to face perhaps the greatest all-round bowler of his times, especially seeing how Bumrah is in the mood to get more game time as seen in his not missing the dead rubber against Afghanistan.

Team news

Under Gautam Gambhir as head coach, India played three allrounders, which meant they had a capable batter at No. 8 even if it weakened the bowling a little. VVS Laxman, who played four specialist bowlers in Zimbabwe, is back as head coach for the Japan trip. It will be interesting to see how India select under him.

India 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Sanju Samson (wk), 3 Ishan Kishan, 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt.), 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Axar Patel, 7 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 8 Shivam Dube, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

Kadowaki-Fleming dropped himself to No. 3 in the first match of the series against Hong Kong, played on the weekend before this fixture. It will be interesting to see if he stays there.

Japan 1 Lachlan Yamamoto-Lake, 2 Reo Sakurano-Thomas, 3 Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming (capt.), 4 Benjamin Ito-Davis, 5 Charlie Hara-Hinze, 6 Ibrahim Takahashi, 7 Alester Kadowaki-Fleming, 8 Wataru Miyauchi (wk), 9 Declan Suzuki, 10 Makoto Taniyama, 11 Shoma Sugaya-Slater

Pitch and conditions: Eyes on the skies

There is a small glitch in this big occasion for Japan cricket. It will be a big test for the draining facilities in Sano as there has been heavy rain in the city a day before the match, which ended up cancelling India's training session as well. The match against Hong Kong on September 20, two days before the big India fixture, was also abandoned without a ball bowled. The Japan authorities will hope the rain relents and they can get a game going.

Quotes

"It is going to be a thrilling and exciting match for us playing Japan for the first time. Looking forward to a great match.
India captain Shreyas Iyer