IND vs PAK Asian Games Final ,India successfully defended their Asian Games men’s cricket gold medal on Saturday, beating arch-rivals Pakistan by 19 runs in the final at Karogi Athletic Park in Nisshin. The result gives India back-to-back titles, following their 2023 gold in Hangzhou, and extends the country’s dominant recent record in continental cricket.
India 211/6 (20 overs) beat Pakistan 192/6 (20 overs) Result: India won by 19 runs
Shreyas Iyer won the toss and chose to bat first, and Abhishek Sharma set the tone immediately with an explosive 61 off just 28 balls. India raced to 81/2 at the end of the powerplay, maintaining a run rate above 13. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi fell early for a low score, but the innings never lost momentum. Captain Iyer contributed 21 off 24 balls, Ishan Kishan added 20 off 18, and Shivam Dube chipped in 27 off 15 down the order. Tilak Varma finished the innings in style, smashing an unbeaten 51 off just 22 balls with three fours and four sixes to push India to 211/6. Pakistan’s Arafat Minhas and Ahmed Daniyal each took two wickets.
Pakistan’s chase looked dead for long stretches before Hasan Nawaz produced a fighting, near-match-winning innings of 96 off 51 balls. Saim Ayub fell for 29 with the score at 126/4, but Nawaz kept Pakistan alive deep into the final over. India’s bowlers held their nerve throughout, with Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, and Shivam Dube each claiming two wickets. Jasprit Bumrah conceded just 10 runs in the 19th over, leaving Dube to defend 32 runs in the final over. He conceded only 13 and dismissed Nawaz off the final ball to seal the gold medal for India.
Abhishek Sharma’s explosive innings at the top of the order saw him equal a long-standing record held by Yuvraj Singh in finals against Pakistan, adding individual history to India’s team achievement on the day.
Following the win, Indian players skipped the customary post-match handshake with the Pakistan team, continuing a pattern seen in other recent India-Pakistan cricket fixtures amid ongoing tensions between the two cricket boards.
The gold medal was India’s 19th of these Asian Games, moving the country to fifth in the overall medal table. Speaking after the win, captain Shreyas Iyer praised his team’s composure, noting that the squad never complained about earlier rain delays during the tournament, calling that attitude the sign of a champion team.
India’s cricket team now turns its attention to its next international assignments following the Asian Games, while Pakistan will look to build on a silver-medal finish that included one of the tournament’s most memorable individual innings from Hasan Nawaz.
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