Japan announces T20 squad against India

Japan has announced its squad ahead of the historic T20 match against India. Along with experienced cricketers, several young talents have also been given a chance in the squad.

Kendall Kadowaki-Fleming, Japan's highest run-scorer in T20 International cricket, is joined in the squad by Ibrahim Takahashi and Declan Suzuki-McComb. All three have experience of playing more than 50 T20 International matches for Japan.

Young spin bowling all-rounder Jake Kusuda-Nairn has secured a place in the squad after impressive performances in domestic cricket. Veteran Tsuyoshi Takada returns to the national team after a long break. He made his debut for Japan in the 2013 ICC East Asia-Pacific T20 Championship.

The squad includes two cricketers from Japan's school-based cricket program 'Bukatsu', Wataru Miyauchi and Makoto Taniyama. Leg-spinner Taniyama developed his action after watching videos of Australian legend Shane Warne's bowling. He has also chosen jersey number 23 in memory of his favorite cricketer. Taniyama is also the team's highest wicket-taker in the history of Japanese cricket and in international cricket.

Japan's U-19 World Cup squad member Charlie Hara-Hinze has also been included in the national team. He also played in Japan's historic win over Tanzania. Spinner Benjamin Eto'o-Davies, who missed the East Asia-Pacific T20 World Cup 2028 sub-regional qualifiers due to injury, also returns to the team.

Japan was in second place in the 2028 T20 World Cup qualifiers. Although they have the same points as Papua New Guinea, they are behind in net run rate. However, Japan defeated Papua New Guinea in their last match. As a result, the team's hopes of playing in the World Cup are still alive.

Before the match against India, Japan will play two T20Is against Hong Kong on September 19 and 20. They will then take on Afghanistan on September 24 and Nepal on September 26 in the Asian Games. Japan will have to be among the top two teams in the group to advance to the quarterfinals.

India squad
: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dubey, Tilak Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakraborty, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh and Vaibhav Suryavanshi.

Japan squad:
Kendall Kadowaki-Fleming (captain), Charlie Hara-Hinze, Benjamin Ito-Davies, Alastair Kadowaki-Fleming, Kohei Kubota, Jake Kusuda-Nairn, Wataru Miyauchi (wicketkeeper), Reo Sakurano-Thomas, Alex Shirai-Patmore (wicketkeeper), Shoma Sugaya-Slater, Declan Suzuki-McComb, Tsuyoshi Takada, Ibrahim Takahashi, Makoto Taniyama and Lachlan Yamamoto-Lake.

Source: ICC