Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming will captain a Japan squad built almost entirely around the same 15 players named for this year’s Asian Games. Charlie Hara-Hinze, Benjamin Ito-Davis and uncapped debutant Jake Kusuda-Nairn are the notable names alongside their long-serving captain, who remains the country’s leading run-scorer in the format. No separate squad has been announced for the fixture itself, with officials confirming the Asian Games group will double up for cricket’s newest bilateral occasion. The occasion carries real historical weight well beyond whatever happens on the scoreboard that afternoon.
A Historic Fixture Decades In The Making
The match has been named the Suzuki Cup, a one-off T20I scheduled for Tuesday, 22 September at Sano International Cricket Ground in Tochigi Prefecture. Start time is set for 1 pm Japan Standard Time, translating to 9:30 am back in India. JCA and BCCI issued a joint statement confirming the fixture, with BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia and JCA chief executive Naoki Miyaji putting their names to the announcement.
The game launches a new Sport 75 initiative, born out of a summit agreement between the Japanese and Indian prime ministers, and marks 75 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. For India, fresh off winning the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, it doubles as a warm-up before their Asian Games campaign begins at the quarter-final stage. Japan will become the 20th nation India have faced in the format.
The timing lines up with the build-up to the Asian Games, where India enter at the quarter-final stage while Japan open in Group A alongside Afghanistan and Nepal.
India Japan T20I September 2026 squad
Japan’s 15-man group is unchanged from the squad already confirmed for the Asian Games, with no standalone party picked for this fixture alone. Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming continues as captain, a role he has held since at least 2022, while David Reid remains in charge as head coach.
Ten of the 15 players involved were also part of Japan’s squad at the 2022 Hangzhou Games, giving this group a settled look heading into a fixture nobody on the roster has experienced before. Jake Kusuda-Nairn is the standout new addition, set for his first senior involvement, while the rest of the group carries recent experience from Japan’s runners-up finish at May’s regional qualifier.
Naming conventions vary across outlets, with some using shortened versions such as Kendel Fleming rather than the full hyphenated form used throughout here.
The World Champions Face A Rookie Opponent
Japan sit 41st in the ICC’s T20I rankings, having climbed as high as 40th earlier this year. They have been an Associate member since 2005 and an Affiliate member since 1989, playing their first T20I only in 2022 once the format’s status was extended to every member nation.
The record since then reads impressively at this level: 41 wins from 61 matches all-time, including eight wins from ten played this year alone. Two runs to regional qualifier finals, most recently as runners-up in May, show steady progress. What none of that history includes is a match against a full ICC member, which is exactly what makes this fixture unprecedented for the program.
Japan’s first-ever T20I came against Indonesia at the same Sano ground back in October 2022, a little under four years before this fixture. Their most recent outing before the India match was a defeat to Papua New Guinea in May, the result that sent them to that runners-up finish.
Why This Match Matters Beyond The Scoreline
Broadcast details have not yet been confirmed by either board, though officials have indicated an update will follow once rights are finalised. The Japan Cricket Association previously won an ICC award for a fan engagement campaign built around a cricket-themed rebrand of the railway station nearest their home ground, a sign of how seriously the sport is being marketed domestically.
The Sano venue is different from the ground hosting Asian Games cricket at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin, a distinction organisers have repeated often.
For a country that has never met a full member nation on the field, hosting the world champions is as much a statement of intent as a cricket match. That is why this India-Japan T20I September 2026 squad announcement has generated so much attention well beyond Japan’s usual cricketing audience.