'Get used to the conditions': Shreyas Iyer identifies India's biggest hurdle before Asian Games gold medal bid

India is set to begin their campaign at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 20. This time, India will look to better their all-time highest medal tally of 106 that they managed to achieve in the previous edition of the Asian Games in 2023. One of the biggest contenders for the gold medal at the continental event is the Indian men's cricket team, who are entering with a full-strength squad led by captain Shreyas Iyer . Before they begin their campaign, the Indian captain opened up about it.

In a video released by BCCI on their official social media handles, Shreyas Iyer said that they need to get used to the conditions in Japan because they are playing there for the first time.

"Regarding the Asian Games, this is going to be my first time. So, I am looking forward to going there and firstly to get used to the conditions because we have never been there before," Iyer said.

"So, having a set of ideas about how the wickets are over there, it's going to be a combination of everything and the most important aspect is that again we gel along as a team, and this series is definitely a great momentum towards Asian Games," the Indian skipper added.

India are defending their gold medal at the Asian Games 2026. They won the gold in the last edition of the Games at Hangzhou in 2023. In that campaign, India sent a second-string squad which was captained by Ruturaj Gaikwad.

This time India has sent a full-strength squad featuring the likes of Shreyas Iyer, Abhishek Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, etc. Hence, it is expected that they will easily win the gold.

India will begin their campaign directly in the quarter-finals on Monday, September 28.

However, before they begin their Asian Games campaign, India will have some preparation as they take on Japan for the first time in a historic T20I game.

Gautam Gambhir will not be serving as the head coach of the team at the Asian Games, and it will be VVS Laxman who will serve in the role at the continental tournament in Aichi-Nagoya.

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Shreyas Iyer (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (vice-captain), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Vipraj Nigam, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Thakur, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.