Japan see big opportunity in historic India clash

Japan captain Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming believes the historic T20I against India later this month can be the beginning of something much bigger for cricket in his country.

The two sides will meet for the first time in international cricket on September 22 at the Sano International Cricket Ground in Tochigi Prefecture, with Japan hoping to make the most of the opportunity to test themselves against the reigning ICC Men’s T20 World Cup champions.

“As exciting as the occasion will be of playing India, we're not there to just celebrate the occasion. We're there to show what we can do as a men's team,” Kadowaki-Fleming told PTI.

“Obviously, a team like India have all bases covered, whether it's fast bowling, batting or spin. So it's just going to be great to be able to watch world-class players and the best team in the world in that format go about it.

“Hopefully this is the first step in a long history of playing against and competing against Full-Member countries.”

The fixture comes just two days before the men’s cricket competition at the 2026 Asian Games gets underway, where Japan face Afghanistan.

Japan will feature in the group stage of the Asian Games, while India will enter directly at the quarter-final stage. Afghanistan and Nepal will also be among the teams competing, something Kadowaki-Fleming sees as another sign of the sport’s progress in Japan.

“It's very exciting,” he said.

“And I think a massive development for cricket in Japan to have countries like Afghanistan and Nepal coming here [and it] is something that we probably would have thought was very difficult to manage even a couple of years ago.”

For Kadowaki-Fleming, the potential impact of the India fixture extends beyond what happens on the field. He hopes the occasion can introduce more young people in Japan to cricket and encourage them to pick up a bat or join a club.

“We're obviously a long way from producing cricket's version of Shohei Ohtani (Japanese origin baseball player featuring in the Major League Baseball), but someone has to be the first, right,” he said.

“Even if a small amount of the kids that are watching cricket on TV during that time then want to go and pick up a cricket bat or sign up with a cricket club in Japan and play for the first time, then I feel like that's a success in itself.”

One of the young players hoping to help drive that growth is Charlie Hara-Hinze. The 17-year-old spin-bowling all-rounder represented Japan at the ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup earlier this year and is part of the senior squad for the upcoming assignments.

Hara-Hinze is already familiar with several of India’s young players, having come up against Ayush Mhatre and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi at the 2024 Under-19 Asia Cup.

"That was a game we definitely went into with a lot of excitement," Hara-Hinze said.

"We got a lot out of it in terms of bowling to these guys, seeing first-hand how good they are and the standard at which they played. You had very little margin for error as well.

"The Indian cricket team coming to Japan to face us was something that doesn't sound real to many people and still probably hasn't quite sunk in.”

The teenager believes Japan has the potential to establish itself as a much stronger cricketing nation over the coming decades.

“I can't see a reason why in 20-30 years, we can't be like Nepal or Afghanistan. I think there's definitely a potential for a very large cricketing market in Japan.”

Japan’s progress can also be measured through their continued pursuit of global qualification. They finished second in the 2026 ICC Men's T20 World Cup East Asia-Pacific Qualifier, level on points with Papua New Guinea but behind the Barramundis on net run rate despite defeating them on the final day.

The India clash therefore arrives at an important stage in Japan’s aspirations towards greater glory.