India and Pakistan meet for Asian Games cricket gold for the first time

India and Pakistan will meet for the Asian Games men's cricket gold medal at Korogi Sports Park on Saturday, the first time the two have faced each other in the competition

The gold-medal match begins at 10:00 IST on Saturday at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin, Japan, with India defending the men's title they won at the 2023 Games.

Pakistan have reached an Asian Games men's cricket final for the first time. The two countries have never previously been drawn against each other in the tournament, at any stage.

Both reached the semi-finals on 1 October without having played a ball of cricket, and both won them, in almost opposite fashion.

A tournament shaped by the weather

India and Pakistan were among the four highest-ranked entrants, who were seeded straight into the quarter-finals while the six lowest-seeded teams played a preliminary round-robin from 24 to 26 September.

The seeding bought them no match practice. India's quarter-final against Afghanistan on 28 September was abandoned without a toss, and Pakistan's against Hong Kong went the same way. Both went through as the higher-ranked side.

Rain stayed with the tournament into the semi-finals, where a wet outfield cut Pakistan's match against Bangladesh to 13 overs a side.

Kishan and Sooryavanshi set up a 124-run win

India batted first against Sri Lanka on a sharply turning surface and made 169 for 7.

Ishan Kishan finished unbeaten on 80 from 46 balls with five sixes, after Vaibhav Sooryavanshi had given the innings its start with 38 off 21, six fours and two sixes among them.

Sri Lanka never began a reply worth the name. Jasprit Bumrah took two wickets in his opening over, Abhishek Sharma and Axar Patel took two apiece, and Sri Lanka were bowled out for 45 in 9.5 overs, their lowest total in men's T20 internationals.

India won by 124 runs.

Samad finishes it for Pakistan

Pakistan's semi-final was shorter and far closer. Bangladesh made 111 for 7 from their 13 overs, Towhid Hridoy top-scoring with 42 off 25 balls.

The chase was 53 for 4 in the seventh over before Abdul Samad and Hasan Nawaz put on an unbroken 59 in 32 balls.

Samad finished 30 not out from 15 balls, taking four consecutive fours from one over, and Nawaz was 27 not out. Pakistan reached 112 for 4 in 11.3 overs, with nine balls to spare.

Saim Ayub, who made 21 in the chase, played down the question of who Pakistan would face: "To be honest, we don't really care about who will win and who will reach the final. All we care about is winning the final."

Iyer leads a young India squad

Shreyas Iyer captains an India side picked without most of the senior T20 international batting order, with Sanju Samson keeping wicket and Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube and Abhishek Sharma alongside Kishan and Sooryavanshi.

Bumrah heads a bowling group that also holds Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar and Ravi Bishnoi, giving Iyer four frontline options who have all bowled in a World Cup.

Pakistan are led by Sahibzada Farhan, with Samad his deputy, and carry the spin pairing of Abrar Ahmed and Sufyan Moqim alongside Saim Ayub, Usman Khan and Haider Ali.

Bronze settled earlier in the day

Bangladesh and Sri Lanka meet in the third-place play-off at the same ground earlier on Saturday, both beaten semi-finalists back on the field within two days of their defeats.

Sri Lanka in particular will want a longer look at a surface that dismissed them for 45.

A first Asian Games meeting between India and Pakistan will decide the men's cricket gold medal at Korogi Sports Park on Saturday morning.

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