New Delhi:India won the gold medal by defeating Pakistan by 19 runs in the men's cricket final of the Asian Games 2026 played on Saturday at Korogi Sports Park, Nishin. With this victory, India has achieved double gold in cricket. Let us tell you, before this the women's team had also won gold by defeating Sri Lanka in the final. With this, this is India's 19th gold and 81st overall medal in the Asian Games.
Won the toss and chose to bat.
Let us tell you, in the final match, captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and decided to bat first, during which the Indian openers made a fast start. Abhishek Sharma played an explosive inning of 68 runs, while Tilak Verma supported him well by scoring 51 runs. Thanks to the fifties of both, India made a challenging score of 211 runs for 6 wickets in 20 overs. This target was not easy for Pakistan, but they tried their best to fight till the end.
But while chasing the target of 212 runs, Pakistan had a very bad start and lost 3 wickets for 39 runs. After this it seemed that India would win easily, but then Hasan Nawaz and Sam Ayub turned the match by making a partnership of 87 runs. While both of them were at the crease, the heartbeats of the Indian fans had increased and the team seemed to be heading towards defeat.
Shivam Dubey dismissed Sam Ayub
Then in the 15th over, Shivam Dubey gave a big relief to India by dismissing Sam Ayub. From here Pakistan's innings started faltering. However, Hasan Nawaz remained at one end and gave a tough fight to India by playing a brilliant inning of 96 runs. He kept his hopes alive till the last over, but he did not get support from the other end.
Akshar Patel and Washington Sundar took 2-2 wickets
During the match, the spinners did wonders in bowling for India. Akshar Patel and Washington Sundar broke Pakistan's back by taking 2-2 wickets. Jasprit Bumrah's 19th over proved to be decisive, in which he gave only 11 runs and put pressure on Hasan Nawaz. Like the semi-final, in this match too India depended more on spinners and the strategy worked. Now after India's victory, there is a celebratory atmosphere across the country.