India Thrash Sri Lanka by 124 Runs, Set Up Asian Games Cricket Gold Medal Final Against Pakistan

Since rain washed out all four quarterfinals and sent India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka straight into the semifinals, the Asian Games men's cricket tournament has moved fast. On Thursday, October 1, India demolished Sri Lanka by 124 runs at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin, Japan, booking a gold-medal clash against arch-rival Pakistan, according to the Times of India.

India posted 169 runs batting first, then bowled out Sri Lanka for a mere 45 in 9.5 overs. Gujarat Samachar reported that total as the lowest T20I score ever recorded by a full-member cricket nation.

Kishan Carries India, Then Bumrah Wrecks Sri Lanka

India's innings was shaky from the start. Abhishek Sharma fell for 7 off 3 balls and Sanju Samson managed just 7 off 9, both undone by sharp turn from Sri Lankan spinners Sahan Arachchige and Tharindu Ratnayake, according to India Today. Teenager Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, playing his first match back after India's quarterfinal against Japan was washed out, counter-attacked for 38 off 21 balls before also falling to Arachchige.

Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Tilak Varma, Washington Sundar and Shivam Dube all struggled to build partnerships on a cracked, gripping surface. Left-hander Ishan Kishan held the innings together, batting through to the final ball.

Here the reporting splits. India Today reported Kishan finished unbeaten on 70 off 42 balls with four fours and four sixes. Gujarat Samachar and Times Now both put his score at 80 off 46 balls with four fours and five sixes. The two tallies cannot both be right, and neither outlet flagged the discrepancy.

Whatever the exact number, Kishan's innings pushed India to a defendable total. Sri Lanka's chase never had a chance. Jasprit Bumrah struck twice in his opening over, dismissing Sineth Jayawardena lbw for a duck among other wickets, according to Times Now. A run-out in the second over left Sri Lanka three down almost immediately. Axar Patel then took two wickets in the fourth over to reduce the hosts to 18/5. Abhishek Sharma finished the job, taking two wickets in two balls. Washington Sundar chipped in with one more, and three additional Sri Lankan batters were run out as the innings fell apart, per Gujarat Samachar. Five Sri Lankan batters were dismissed for ducks. Only one reached 15 runs.

Pakistan Reaches the Final Too

Pakistan booked its own spot in the gold-medal match earlier Thursday, beating Bangladesh by six wickets in a rain-truncated first semifinal, according to the Times of India. Sri Lanka will now play Bangladesh for bronze.

A Final With Baggage

The India-Pakistan gold-medal match carries tension beyond the scoreboard. Times Now reported that the Indian team has refused pre-match handshakes with its Pakistani counterparts, and that Mohsin Naqvi, who chairs both the Pakistan Cricket Board and the Asian Cricket Council, has refused to personally hand winning trophies to the Indian team after previous victories. No other source in this reporting round independently confirmed those details, and neither India's cricket board nor Naqvi's office issued a statement addressing them directly in the material reviewed here. Fans should treat this as an open, unresolved friction point rather than a settled fact until the sport's governing bodies comment on the record.

There's a genuine scheduling discrepancy worth flagging too. Gujarat Samachar's report described the final as happening "on Sunday." But Outlook India's live coverage explicitly stated the medal matches, both gold and bronze, are scheduled for October 3, which falls on a Saturday this year. Times Now's report also cited October 3 as the final's date. The weight of the reporting points to Saturday, October 3, not Sunday.

Washout Rule Could Still Reshape the Outcome

Persistent rain at Korogi Sports Park has already wiped out six matches at this Asiad, including every quarterfinal, according to Outlook India. In response, organizers scrapped the traditional silver-medal runner-up format. If the gold-medal final or the bronze playoff is washed out entirely with no reserve day available, the two finalists will now jointly share that medal rather than replay it.

That rule matters specifically for this final. A complete washout would hand Pakistan a share of its first-ever men's cricket gold at the Asian Games without India and Pakistan settling the result on the field. Neither team's camp has commented on this possibility as of this reporting.

India is defending the men's cricket gold it won at the previous Asian Games, and a win over Pakistan would be India's second cricket gold of this edition after the Indian women's team already beat Sri Lanka in their own final, according to Times Now. Whether weather lets that happen on the field, rather than on a shared podium, remains the open question heading into Saturday.