India and Pakistan clashed in the men’s cricket final of Asian Games 2026 on Saturday, an exciting contest was seen between both the teams. But the Indian team secured its second gold medal in back to back Asian Games.
The Indian team made a big score of 211/6 in the first play. Which was the biggest score of the Indian team against Pakistan while playing first. Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Verma and Shivam Dubey played brilliant innings. In reply, Pakistan team remained away from the target. The match took place on Saturday (3 October) at Korogi Sports Park in Nishin.
India defeated Sri Lanka by 124 runs in the semi-finals, while Pakistan defeated Bangladesh by 6 wickets to reach the final. In the match, the Indian team won the toss and decided to bat first.
India is eyeing to defend its title, while Pakistan would like to win its first Asian Games gold in men’s cricket. The bronze medal in cricket was won on Saturday, which was won by Sri Lankan team by 63 runs and defeated Bangladesh.
Pakistani batting highlights
Washington Sundar gave the first blow to the Pakistani team in the chase. Sundar sent captain Sahibzada Farhan (10 runs) to the pavilion. At that time Pakistan’s score was 33/1. Then Akshar Patel dismissed wicketkeeper batsman Usman Khan, who could score only 3 runs. After this, Akshar also trapped Maaz Sadakat (23 runs), who was batting brilliantly, in his spin.
After this, Shivam Dubey gave India its fourth success by dismissing Sam Ayub (29) on the very first ball. Washington Sundar caught his catch. After this, Washington Sundar gave India its fifth success by dismissing Abdul Samad. Samad tried to play a big shot on the fast ball without much footwork, but the ball went too high in the air. Easy catch taken at long-on.
India’s batting was like this
Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Abhishek Sharma gave a stormy start to the Indian team. However, Vaibhav could not make his innings much bigger. Vaibhav was caught out by Sam Ayub at the hands of wicketkeeper Usman Khan. Vaibhav scored 15 runs on 9 balls with the help of 2 sixes. At the time of Vaibhav’s dismissal the score was 28/1. Sanju Samson disappointed in this match too and became the victim of Ahmed Daniyal on the personal score of 2 runs.
Meanwhile, Indian opener Abhishek Sharma completed his half-century in 20 balls. Which was his 13th fifty in this format. After some time, Abhishek’s innings ended at 61 runs. Abhishek played 28 balls in his innings, he hit 3 fours and 7 sixes. During this period his strike rate was 217 plus. Abhishek was dismissed by Arafat Minhas, he was stumped by Usman Khan.
India got the fourth blow in the form of Ishan Kishan. He was bowled by Arafat Minhas. Ishaan was out after scoring 20 runs in 18 balls. His innings included 3 fours. After this Abrar Ahmed got Shreyas Iyer caught out. Shreyas returned to the pavilion after scoring 21 runs in 24 balls. His innings included 2 fours. Sahibzada Farhan took his catch. Shreyas was the fifth player to be out.
In the last overs, Shivam Dubey and Tilak Verma played fast innings for the Indian team. Ahmed Daniyal got Shivam Dubey caught out. Dubey scored 27 runs in 15 balls, which included 2 fours and 2 sixes. Maaz Sadaqat caught his catch. Tilak Verma played a brilliant inning of 51 runs in 22 balls.
Slipped in the middle overs, then scored 69 runs in the last 4 overs.
The special thing was that when Abhishek Sharma of the Indian team was out, the score became 3 wickets for 93 runs in 7.5 overs. After this, when Shreyas was out in 14.1 overs, Team India’s score became 133/5. Whereas in the last 4 overs the Indian team scored 69 runs.
Highest first inning score in India-Pakistan T20I
211/6 – India, Nisshin, 2026
192/5 – India, Ahmedabad, 2012
181/7 – India, Dubai, 2022
175/7 – India, Colombo RPS, 2026
171/5 – Pakistan, Dubai, 2025
159/8 – Pakistan, Melbourne, 2022
How is the playing 11?
Both India and Pakistan have won their respective semi-finals. In such a situation, both the teams did not make any changes in their playing-11 in the final. Both the teams adopted the old formula.
Team India’s playing in Asian Games final 11: Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Shreyas Iyer (captain), Ishan Kishan, Tilak Verma, Shivam Dubey, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi and Jasprit Bumrah.
Pakistan’s playing 11 in the final of Asian Games: Sahibzada Farhan (captain), Sam Ayub, Usman Khan (wicketkeeper), Maaz Sadaqat, Hasan Nawaz, Abdul Samad, Arafat Minhas, Ahmed Daniyal, Mohammad Wasim Jr., Abrar Ahmed and Sufiyan Muqeem.
Recent record of India-Pakistan
In the last 5 matches between the two teams, India has had the upper hand. India had won by 61 runs on 15 February 2026. Earlier, India had defeated Pakistan by 5 wickets on 28 September 2025, by 6 wickets on 21 September, by 7 wickets on 14 September and by 6 runs on 9 June 2024.
India and Pakistan head to head (in T20)
total matches 17
India won 14
pakistan won 3
How India reached the final of Asian Games
India was to play the quarter-finals against Afghanistan on 28 September, but due to rain not a single ball could be bowled. On the basis of better ranking, India reached the semi-finals and defeated Sri Lanka there.
Pakistan’s quarter-final was against Hong Kong. This match was also canceled due to rain without a ball being bowled and on the basis of better ranking, Pakistan reached the semi-finals, where it defeated Bangladesh and got the ticket to the final.
How did Pakistan make it to the finals?
Pakistan defeated Bangladesh in the second semi-final. Due to rain the match was played in 13-13 overs. Bangladesh scored 111/7 runs in 13 overs. Sufiyan Mokeem took three wickets.
Chasing the target, Pakistan’s position at one time was 53/4, but Abdul Samad scored 30 not out in 15 balls and Hasan Nawaz scored 27 not out and made a match-winning partnership of 59 runs. Pakistan achieved the target in 11.3 overs.
History of cricket in Asian Games
Cricket has been a part of the Asian Games since 2010, except in 2018. India became the men’s cricket champion by defeating Afghanistan in 2022 and is the current defending champion. Bangladesh became the first Asian Games champion in men’s cricket, while Sri Lanka won gold in 2014. Afghanistan was runner-up on all three occasions. India did not participate in 2010 and 2014.
In women’s cricket, Pakistan won the first two titles, while India won gold in 2022 and 2026. After six consecutive matches in the tournament were canceled due to bad weather, now the final will also be under the influence of weather.