Japan would be hosting three-time T20 World Cup winners India in a historic one-game bilateral encounter on Tuesday, at the Sano International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday. The match scheduled at Sano, 100 km from Tokyo, which is now deemed as “Japanese Cricket Capital”, will be an experience of a lifetime for the 11 players, most of whom are second generation Japanese citizens of dual heritage.
Watching from the stands will be two Indian-origin Japanese cricketers Abhishek Anand and Sabaorish Ravichandran, who would blaming their luck to be not being able to rub shoulders in the middle with some of the individuals whom they cheer for on television screens.
Born in Bihar and a Chemistry graduate from IIT Kanpur, it was his love for the game that brought Anand to Japan and explore cricketing passion. While continuing his professional career, Anand simultaneously played well for Tokyo Falcon Cricket Club for three years, earning a national call-up.
Anand finally realised his Indian dream with against cook Islands in 2025. As far as Ravichandran is concerned, the Chennai-born cricketer made his T20I debut in 2022 and is one of the few players to have played more than 50 T20Is for the national team.
Both Anand and Ravichandran were eligible to play against India, but missed out due to stricter Asian Games eligibility rules. With the Asian Games just a few days away, the Japanese Cricket Association (JCA) named a squad that will play both the one-off T20I against India and in the Asian Games to maintain continuity.
Under the rules, one has to have a Japanese passport to be eligible to represent Japan at the continental extravaganza. Both Anand and Ravichandran do not have Japanese passports. Having said that, under the International Cricket Council () rules, a cricketer will have to play domestic cricket for three years to be able to able to represent Japan.
Ravichandran recently relocated to Chennai and flies to Japan whenever there are national team matches. He also felt that flying him for just one game would be logistically impractical. “Bringing me in for just one game (Vs India) would be logistically difficult,” he told TOI.
“For the Japan team, this is also preparation for the Asian Games. So they thought it would be better to use the existing Asian Games squad. I’m not part of the squad because I don’t possess a Japanese passport,” he added.
“Our team is already spending a lot of money to accommodate India there, and our budget is already stretched. We also don’t receive that much funding from the ICC,” added Ravichandran, who bats right-handed and bowls leg-spin.
According to a report in japaneselawtranslation.go.jp, under Article 5 (1), the “Minister of Justice may not permit naturalization for a foreign national who does not meet the following conditions: (i) having continuously had a domicile in Japan for five years or more.”
Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming, Charlie Hara-Hinze, Benjamin Gou-Ito Davis, Kohei Kubota, Wataru Miyauchi, Reo Sakurano-Thomas, Declan Suzuki-McComb, Shoma Sugaya-Slater, Alexander Shirai-Patmore, Lachlan Yamamoto-Lake, Makoto Taniyama, Ibrahim Takahashi, Tsuyoshi Takada, Jake Kusuda-Nairn, Alester Kadowaki-Fleming
