India will meet Pakistan for the Asian Games 2026 men’s cricket gold medal on October 3 after crushing Sri Lanka in the second semi-final.
India’s innings
Sri Lanka chose to field, and India made 169/7. Ishan Kishan was the anchor with an unbeaten 80 off 46 balls, including four fours and five sixes, and young batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi supported him with a counter-attacking 39. The pitch helped spinners, and Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Tilak Varma and Shivam Dube all found runs hard to come by.
Sri Lanka fall apart
The chase collapsed quickly. Jasprit Bumrah took two wickets in the first over, and three run-outs added to the damage. Sri Lanka were dismissed for 45, with Nuwanidu Fernando’s 15 off 11 balls the highest score.
The tournament so far
Pakistan had earlier beaten Bangladesh by six wickets in the first semi-final, a match cut to 13 overs a side by rain in which they chased 111/7 in 11.3 overs.
Ten teams are playing the men’s event, with all games at Korogi Sports Park. Weather has badly disrupted the schedule, and six consecutive matches were abandoned across the group and quarter-final stages.
India are defending champions, having won gold at the 2023 Hangzhou Games, and the final brings together two of Asia’s biggest rivals.
