Nisshin: Shreyas Iyer-led Team India opted to bat first against Pakistan in the men’s cricket final of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 at the Karogi Sports Park here on Saturday.
The Men in Blue went with an unchanged team for the gold medal clash as Arshdeep Singh, Yash Thakur and Vipraj Nigam remained on the bench. Eyes will turn towards the likes of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan and Jasprit Bumrah among others as India look to defend their title.
Pakistan came into the final with one change as batting all-rounder Saad Masood got a game ahead of fast bowler Mohammad Wasim Jr.
This is the first meeting between India and Pakistan in the Asian Games across men’s and women’s cricket. India started participating in the cricket event at the continental showpiece from the 2023 Hangzhou Games onwards and did not meet their arch rivals in the tournament until this point, where they meet them for the biggest prize.
India made light work of a second-string Sri Lankan side on a challenging surface in the semifinal 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.
For India, 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. The Indian bowlers also starred as they bowled Sri Lanka for 45 to win by a huge margin.
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.
Playing XIs:
India: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (w), Shreyas Iyer (c), Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah
Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan (c), Maaz Sadaqat, Usman Khan (wk), Saim Ayub, Hasan Nawaz, Abdul Samad, Saad Masood, Arafat Minhas, Ahmed Daniyal, Abrar Ahmed, Sufyan Moqim
(IANS)
