India Beat Pakistan by 19 Runs in the Asian Games T20 Final on 3 October 2026, Making 211 for 6 to Keep the Men's Cricket Gold They Won in 2023

India beat Pakistan by 19 runs in the men’s Twenty20 final of the Asian Games on 3 October 2026. Batting first, India made 211 for 6 and held Pakistan to 192 for 6, which kept the men’s cricket gold India won at Hangzhou in 2023.

The match was played at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin, Japan, according to ESPN and Gulf News; Khaleej Times places the same ground in Nagoya. DD News reported that both the men’s and women’s teams retained their titles at the Aichi-Nagoya Games.

The scorecard at a glance

India won the toss and chose to bat, according to both ESPN and Gulf News. The innings, as reported by Business Today and Khaleej Times:

• Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 15 off 9 balls
• Abhishek Sharma 61 off 28 balls (three fours, seven sixes)
• Sanju Samson 2 off 4
• Shreyas Iyer, the captain, 21 off 24
• Ishan Kishan 20 off 18
• Tilak Varma 51 not out off 22 balls (three fours, four sixes)
• Shivam Dube 27 off 15
• Axar Patel 1 not out

Pakistan replied with 192 for 6 in 20 overs. ESPN’s bowling figures for India are Axar Patel 2 for 29, Washington Sundar 2 for 29, Shivam Dube 2 for 33 and Jasprit Bumrah 0 for 33. For Pakistan, Arafat Minhas took 2 for 25 and Ahmed Daniyal 2 for 43. Gulf News adds that Ravi Bishnoi conceded 44 runs in his three overs.

Abhishek and Tilak build the total

Khaleej Times described 211 as the highest total of the tournament so far. India reached 100 in 55 balls, and Abhishek’s fifty took 20 balls. His 61 included seven sixes.

The late runs came from the sixth-wicket pair. Khaleej Times reported that Tilak Varma and Shivam Dube added 62 in five overs, with Tilak finishing unbeaten on 51 from 22 balls.

Hasan Nawaz’s 96 and the chase

Pakistan, captained by Sahibzada Farhan according to Gulf News, needed 212. They lost early wickets. Farhan made 10 and was dismissed by Washington Sundar; Maaz Sadaqat made 23, Usman Khan 3 and Abdul Samad 9, with Axar Patel and Sundar taking those wickets, Daily Pakistan reported. Pakistan were 39 for 3 after 6.1 overs.

Hasan Nawaz then scored 96 off 51 balls with five fours and seven sixes, and added 87 for the fourth wicket with Saim Ayub, who made 29 off 22 before Dube dismissed him. Daily Pakistan reported that Pakistan needed 33 from the final over. ESPN’s report headline credits Pakistan with “a fighting 96” from Nawaz in defeat.

How the two sides reached the final

All men’s matches at the Games were Twenty20, and ten teams entered. The Olympic Council of Asia announced that India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were seeded straight into the quarter-finals, with the other six sides playing a preliminary round first.

The semi-finals were played on 1 October. India made 169 for 7 against Sri Lanka, with Ishan Kishan unbeaten on 80 off 46 balls and Sooryavanshi scoring 38. Sri Lanka were bowled out for 45 in 9.5 overs. Onmanorama’s report gives Bumrah 2 for 7, Axar Patel 2 for 8 and Abhishek Sharma 2 for 2, and the margin was 124 runs.

Pakistan beat Bangladesh by six wickets in a semi-final shortened to 13 overs a side. Bangladesh made 111 for 7, and Pakistan chased 112, with Abdul Samad unbeaten on 30 and Hasan Nawaz on 27, Gulf News reported. Gulf News described it as Pakistan’s first Asian Games final, and its report on the final added that it was the first meeting of the two teams at the Games.

The India squad of 15 was announced by the BCCI on 6 June 2026, with Shreyas Iyer as captain and Tilak Varma as vice-captain, according to Open magazine. Bumrah, who had been rested from the Ireland and England T20 tours, was in the squad, as was Sooryavanshi.

The 2023 gold in Hangzhou

India’s earlier men’s gold came at the Hangzhou Asian Games. The final against Afghanistan on 7 October 2023 was stopped by rain with Afghanistan on 112 for 5 after 18.2 overs, and India were awarded the gold on higher seeding, The National reported. Gulf News and the Olympic Council of Asia both describe India as the defending champions going into Aichi-Nagoya.

India’s women had already won their gold on 22 September 2026, beating Sri Lanka by 147 runs after making 216 for 3, Khaleej Times reported. The longer history of the women’s team is in our piece on India’s women’s cricket.

Where it sits in the medal table

The full medal breakdown is in our report on India at the Asian Games, and the two hockey golds, won on 2 and 3 October, are in our hockey report.

Gulf News counted the men’s cricket gold as India’s 19th of the Games and its 81st medal at that point. India finished fourth with 21 gold, 27 silver and 37 bronze, a total of 85 medals, as the Olympic Council of Asia reported, and DD News described that as India’s second-highest Asian Games tally.