India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have been given direct entry into the men's knockout stage of the Asian Games cricket competition following the draw announced on Thursday. The ten team men's event begins on 24 September in Nagoya, with the defending champions and their seeded neighbours entering at the quarter finals.
The other six teams play a preliminary round for the remaining quarter final places. Afghanistan, Japan and Nepal are in Group A, and Hong Kong, Malaysia and Oman in Group B, with the top two from each group going through to join the seeded sides.
The women's competition runs from 17 to 22 September. Holders India meet hosts Japan in the quarter finals, Bangladesh play China, Sri Lanka face Malaysia and Pakistan meet Thailand. Both the men's and women's competitions are in the Twenty20 format.
Seeding the same four sides straight into the knockouts is efficient scheduling and it also narrows what the tournament can show. India swept both cricket gold medals at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, and a structure that protects the strongest teams from the group stage makes an upset less likely and the format's development value smaller.