Archive · 3 Oct 2026
India Choose to Bat First Against Pakistan in Asian Games Final
India and Pakistan are playing for the men's cricket gold medal at the Asian Games.
India won the toss, which means they got to choose whether to bat or bowl first.
Captain Shreyas Iyer chose for India to bat first.
Both teams kept the same players they used in their semifinal matches.
It is the first time the men's teams have met in cricket at the Asian Games.
Earlier, Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh to win the bronze medal.
Tharindu Ratnayake helped Sri Lanka with both batting and bowling.
India won the toss and chose to bat first against Pakistan in the men's cricket final.
The final is being played at Nisshin during the 2026 Asian Games.
Both teams named unchanged XIs after winning their respective semifinals.
India's openers are Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Abhishek Sharma; Pakistan are led by Sahibzada Farhan.
Sri Lanka won bronze by beating Bangladesh by 63 runs, with Tharindu Ratnayake scoring 65 and taking two wickets.
- Who
- India and Pakistan's men's cricket teams; Sri Lanka and Bangladesh also played the bronze-medal match.
- What
- India elected to bat first in the Asian Games men's cricket final; Sri Lanka won the bronze-medal match.
- When
- Saturday, during the 2026 Asian Games.
- Where
- The final is at Nisshin, Aichi-Nagoya.
- Why
- India chose to bat after winning the toss; the teams are competing for the gold medal.
- Final
- India vs Pakistan, men's cricket gold-medal match
- Toss
- India won and elected to bat first
- Venue
- Nisshin, Aichi-Nagoya
- India semifinal
- Beat Sri Lanka by 124 runs
- Pakistan semifinal
- Won its semifinal; the article does not give the opponent or margin
- Bronze medal
- Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by 63 runs
- Ratnayake's contribution
- Scored 65 off 32 balls and took two wickets