Photo: Collected
Arch-rivals India and Pakistan are facing each other in the final of men’s cricket at the Asian Games. This is the first time this year that the two teams are meeting in a final. The much-awaited match will be held in the T20 format at Korogi Athletic Park in Nisshin, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on Saturday. The game will start at 1:30pm local time on Saturday.
India aim to retain the title they won at the Hangzhou Asian Games. Pakistan, on the other hand, are waiting to win their first gold in men’s cricket at the Asian Games; earlier they had won bronze at the 2010 Guangzhou Games.
The Indian women’s team have already won gold in cricket at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. They secured the title by beating Sri Lanka by 147 runs in the final. If the men’s team also win gold now, India’s ‘double’ in cricket will be complete.
India and Pakistan last met on 15 February 2026 in the group stage of the T20 World Cup in Colombo, Sri Lanka, a match India won by 61 runs. Ishan Kishan played a big role in that win, scoring 77 runs off 40 balls.
The last time Pakistan beat India in T20s was on 4 September 2022. Pakistan won that Asia Cup match by five wickets, with Mohammad Rizwan scoring the highest 71 runs.
In this edition, both teams got a place directly in the quarter-finals as they were among the four top-seeded teams. India’s quarter-final against Afghanistan was abandoned due to rain; being ahead in the ICC T20 rankings, they advanced to the semi-final on the basis of seeding. In the semi-final India thrashed Sri Lanka by 124 runs, bowling the opponents out for 45 runs in just 9.5 overs.
Pakistan’s quarter-final was also washed out by rain. When the match against Hong Kong was abandoned, they advanced to the semi-final under the same rule. In the last four, Pakistan won by six wickets against Bangladesh in a match reduced to 13 overs.
The two teams have faced each other 17 times so far in T20 international cricket. India have won 13 matches, Pakistan three, and one match was tied.
If Saturday’s final is also abandoned due to rain, both teams will be jointly awarded gold. The situation at Hangzhou 2023 was different; that time, when the final between India and Afghanistan was abandoned due to rain, India were awarded gold because of their higher ranking.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Ishan Kishan will be the ones to watch for India in the final. The 15-year-old Suryavanshi scored 38 runs in the semi-final with six fours and two sixes. Ishan Kishan scored an unbeaten 80 off 46 balls, an innings that included five sixes.
Left-arm wrist spinner Sufiyan Muqeem and batter Abdul Samad will be the ones to watch for Pakistan. In the semi-final Muqeem took three wickets for 26 runs in three overs; Samad scored an unbeaten 30 off 15 balls, which included five fours and one six.
India’s squad includes captain Shreyas Iyer, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, vice-captain Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Vipraj Nigam, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Thakur, Arshdeep Singh and Vaibhav Suryavanshi.
Sahibzada Farhan is leading the Pakistan team. The squad includes vice-captain Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Akif Javed, Ali Raza, Arafat Minhas, Haider Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Maaz Sadaqat, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Saad Masood, Saim Ayub, Sufiyan Muqeem and wicketkeeper Usman Khan.
Cricket is being held at the Asian Games for the fourth time this time. In its debut edition at Guangzhou in 2010, Bangladesh won gold, Afghanistan silver and Pakistan bronze. At the 2014 Incheon edition, Sri Lanka got gold, Afghanistan silver and Bangladesh bronze. There was no cricket at the 2018 Jakarta edition. Most recently, at the 2023 Hangzhou edition, India won gold, Afghanistan silver and Bangladesh bronze.
As of 7:30pm Greenwich Mean Time on Friday, India are in sixth position on the medal table. Their haul is 71 medals – 12 gold, 25 silver and 34 bronze. Pakistan are in 34th position, with a total of six medals, all of them bronze.
In India the match can be watched live on Sony Sports Network and Sony LIV. The match will be broadcast or live-streamed on PTV Sports and Ten Sports in Pakistan, beIN Sports in the Middle East, Astro in Malaysia, Mediacorp in Singapore and TBS in Japan.
