India to face Pakistan in Asian Games men’s cricket final

India defeated Sri Lanka by 124 runs successful the semis to publication their spot with Pakistan for a first-ever Asian Games clash.

India humiliated a second-string Sri Lanka broadside by 124 runs astatine the Asian Games to publication a gold-medal decider against rivals Pakistan successful the T20 tournament, marking the archetypal clip the 2 sides volition conscionable astatine the continental event.

The time aft India’s depleted one-day planetary squad completed the second-highest palmy pursuit successful an eight-wicket triumph implicit the West Indies, Shreyas Iyer’s T20 broadside dismissed Sri Lanka for 45 successful 9.5 overs astatine Korogi Athletic Park connected Thursday aft mounting them 170 for victory.

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Pace supremo Jasprit Bumrah (2-7) acceptable the code with 2 wickets successful the archetypal 5 balls, trapping Sineth Jayawardena lbw for a duck and having fig 3 Sohan de Livera caught down for nought.

Panicky opener Lasith Croospulle was past tally retired with a ludicrous dash for a azygous arsenic Sri Lanka slumped to 3 for two.

Two much run-outs followed arsenic Sri Lanka collapsed connected a lukewarm and sunny afternoon, with fig 4 Nuwanidu Fernando, the 2nd innings’ apical scorer, retired for 15.

Left-arm spinner Abhishek Sharma finished with 2-2 from 5 balls.

India were not overly awesome successful their ain batting against outgunned opponents, but Ishan Kishan smashed an unbeaten 80 from 46 balls to anchor their innings and opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made 38.

In the earlier semifinal, middle-order batter Abdul Samad blasted an unbeaten 30 disconnected 15 balls to assistance Pakistan to a six-wicket triumph implicit Bangladesh successful a lucifer reduced to 13 overs a broadside owed to a bedewed outfield.

Towhid Hridoy made 42 arsenic Bangladesh acceptable an imposing 112 for triumph successful the shortened match, with Pakistan’s left-arm spinner Sufyan Moqim taking 3-26.

The semifinalists each reached the past 4 by virtuousness of their planetary rankings, with each 4 quarterfinals abandoned owed to rain.

India volition bid for back-to-back men’s cricket titles, 3 years aft taking the golden successful Hangzhou courtesy of the ranking regularisation erstwhile their last against Afghanistan was abandoned owed to rain.

Over connected the women’s side, India defended their rubric arsenic Sri Lanka settled for metallic erstwhile again, portion Pakistan defeated Bangladesh for bronze.

No handshake again?

The blockbuster clash has been headlined by the infamous question of whether determination volition beryllium a customary handshake aft governmental tensions betwixt India and Pakistan person spilled onto the transportation successful the past year.

Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav and his players refused to shingle hands with their Pakistani counterparts during an Asia Cup clash past September and refused to instrumentality the trophy from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Mohsin Naqvi, who besides serves arsenic Pakistan’s interior minister.

When Pakistan faced India successful the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 successful Sri Lanka, the teams steered wide of handshakes and repeated the signifier astatine the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup earlier this twelvemonth successful England, arsenic good arsenic their group-stage lucifer successful the Women’s Asia Cup.

Last month, the India women’s squad refused to judge the trophy from Naqvi aft winning the Asia Cup Cricket final.