India, Pakistan clash for Asian Games cricket gold

India and Pakistan will face each other for the first time at the Asian Games when they clash for the men's cricket gold medal in Nisshin on Saturday. India enter the final after defeating Sri Lanka by 124 runs.

Nisshin: India and Pakistan will be meeting each other in the Asian Games for the first time, and the clash will be for the biggest prize as the two men’s teams battle it out for the gold medal on Saturday at the Karogi Sports Park here.

Defending champions India are into only their second Asian Games in the cricket event and have not met their arch-rivals Pakistan in the five games they have played since the Hangzhou 2023 Games. And this remains the case in the women’s cricket event too, as the Harmanpreet Kaur side, which recently won the gold medal after beating Sri Lanka, has not met the Women in Green at the Asiad.

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The rivalry takes centre stage for the biggest prize now as India look to defend their gold medal from the 2023 edition with a full-strength Indian team on the Japanese shores.

India made light work of a second-string Sri Lankan side on a challenging surface as they registered a stellar 124-run win with Ishan Kishan and bowlers leading the way. On the other hand, Pakistan chased a decent 112 against Bangladesh in the semifinal in a six-wicket win with nine balls to spare in a curtailed game.

Both the teams saw their quarterfinals washed out due to rain in Nisshin, and the semifinals were their first outings at the Games.

Kishan scored a marvellous 80 from 46 balls with five sixes and four fours, while teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi also gave a strong start of 38 from 21 balls as India made an over-par 169/7.

Defending a 170-run target against the Islanders, India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah ran through the opposition’s top order to start off the second innings with a double-wicket over as opener Sineth Jayawardena and keeper-batter Sohan de Livera were dismissed for a duck.

He picked 2-7, while Axar Patel scalped 2-8 and Abhishek Sharma also took 2-2 as India bowled Sri Lanka out for 45 to win big.

The Pakistani bowlers spun a web to keep Bangladesh to 111/7. Ayub was in particular hard to deal with as he gave only three runs in his two overs for a wicket.

Pakistan were given a scare in the chase when Mahedi Hasan removed Sahibzada Farhan in the second over. Maaz Sadaqat (15 from 7 balls), Usman Khan (14 from 9 balls) and Saim Ayub (21 from 12 balls) kept the scoreboard ticking with their cameos.

Pakistan were 76/4 and then got the over that they needed when Abdul Samad and Hasan Nawaz took 23 overs from Mustafizur Rahman’s 10th over, with Samad hitting 22 of them. The Men in Green then needed 13 runs from 18 balls, and they had done the hard work. Nawaz hit the winning four in the 12th over to win the game.

• When: Saturday, October 3, 2026
• Where: Karogi Sports Park, Nisshin
• Where to watch: Sony Sports Network on TV. SonyLIV app and website for streaming

Squads:

Pakistan Squad: Sahibzada Farhan(c), Maaz Sadaqat, Usman Khan(w), Saim Ayub, Hasan Nawaz, Abdul Samad, Arafat Minhas, Ahmed Daniyal, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Abrar Ahmed, Sufyan Moqim, Saad Masood, Ali Raza, Akif Javed, Haider Ali

India Squad: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Yash Thakur, Vipraj Nigam