India Win Back-to-Back Asian Games Cricket Gold: Final Recap, Scorecard Highlights and Handshake Row

By Kimi · October 3, 2026 · 5 min read

Key takeaways

🔑 India beat Pakistan by 19 runs in the men’s T20 gold-medal match at the 2026 Asian Games on Saturday, October 3, 2026, at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin, Japan. India won the toss, batted first and made 211/6 in 20 overs, and Pakistan finished on 192/6 chasing 212.
Abhishek Sharma top-scored with 61 off 28 balls (three fours, seven sixes) and Tilak Varma stayed unbeaten on 51 off 22 balls. Varma and Shivam Dube added 62 for the sixth wicket. Shreyas Iyer made 21, Ishan Kishan 20 and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 15 off 9 balls, and Sanju Samson 2.
Pakistan’s Hasan Nawaz scored 96 off 51 balls (five fours, seven sixes) and was dismissed on the last ball of the innings, four runs short of a century. Saim Ayub added 29 off 22 balls, and the pair put on 87 for the fourth wicket before Pakistan fell 19 runs short.
India’s Axar Patel and Washington Sundar each took 2 for 29 from four overs, and Shivam Dube also took two wickets, including Nawaz. For Pakistan, Arafat Minhas took 2 for 25 and Ahmed Daniyal 2 for 43. No Player of the Match award was named in any report we could read.
India have now won men’s cricket gold at both Asian Games they have entered, 2023 in Hangzhou and 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya. Reports said there were no handshakes at the toss, after the match or at the medal ceremony, and the ceremony was delayed; the report that detailed the delay gave no reason.
This is a final result, pinned to Saturday, October 3, 2026, about 3:45 p.m. Eastern. We used only figures that at least two sources agree on, and no betting odds, spreads or win-probability models appear anywhere on this page, only the actual scores.

India beat Pakistan by 19 runs in the men’s T20 gold-medal match at the 2026 Asian Games on Saturday, October 3, 2026, making 211/6 and holding Pakistan to 192/6 to win gold at back-to-back Games. Abhishek Sharma’s 61 off 28 balls and Tilak Varma’s unbeaten 51 powered India, while Hasan Nawaz’s 96 off 51 balls kept Pakistan in the chase until the final ball. This recap is pinned to Saturday, October 3, 2026, about 3:45 p.m. Eastern, and covers the score, the key innings and what was reported about handshakes and the medal ceremony.

What was the final score of the India vs Pakistan Asian Games final?

India won by 19 runs, scoring 211/6 in 20 overs before Pakistan finished on 192/6 chasing 212. India captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and chose to bat. Pakistan were led by Sahibzada Farhan.

Team	Score	Overs
India	211/6	20
Pakistan	192/6	20

When and where was the final played?

The final was played on the afternoon of Saturday, October 3, 2026, at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, which was the early hours of Saturday in the United States. The published match listing gives a 2 p.m. local start (1 a.m. Eastern), while one preview said 1:30 p.m., so we treat the exact first-ball time as unconfirmed. The match was part of the 20th Asian Games, held in Aichi and Nagoya, where cricket is played in the T20 format of 20 overs a side.

How did India score 211/6?

Abhishek Sharma’s 61 and Tilak Varma’s unbeaten 51 off 22 balls (three fours, four sixes) did most of the work, with Shivam Dube’s 27 off 15 balls helping India past 200. Opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made 15 off 9 balls before being caught behind off Saim Ayub in the third over. Varma and Dube then added 62 for the sixth wicket in about five overs. Sanju Samson made 2.

Batter	Runs	Balls
Abhishek Sharma	61	28
Tilak Varma	51 not out	22
Shivam Dube	27	15
Shreyas Iyer	21	24
Ishan Kishan	20	18
Sooryavanshi	15	9

For Pakistan, Arafat Minhas took 2 for 25 from three overs, Ahmed Daniyal 2 for 43, Abrar Ahmed 1 for 29 and Ayub 1 for 47.

What did Abhishek Sharma do in the final?

Abhishek Sharma top-scored with 61 off 28 balls, hitting three fours and seven sixes, so 54 of his 61 runs came in boundaries. That is a strike rate of about 218 runs per 100 balls. A wire-service report said he reached fifty in 20 balls, was dropped twice and survived a near run-out when a throw missed both the stumps and the wicketkeeper. The reports we read agree he fell on 61 but differ on who dismissed him, so we give no dismissal. His innings set up the late push from Varma and Dube.

How did Hasan Nawaz and Pakistan’s chase go?

Hasan Nawaz made 96 off 51 balls, with five fours and seven sixes, and was dismissed on the last ball of the innings, four runs short of a century. Match reports say he was caught behind off Shivam Dube. Saim Ayub added 29 off 22 balls, and the two put on 87 for the fourth wicket after Pakistan lost early wickets. Maaz Sadaqat made 23 and Farhan 10. For India, Axar Patel (2 for 29) and Washington Sundar (2 for 29) each bowled four overs, and Dube took two wickets, including Nawaz and Ayub.

How did India and Pakistan reach the final?

Both won their semi-finals on Thursday, October 1, 2026: India beat Sri Lanka by 124 runs and Pakistan beat Bangladesh by six wickets. India made 169/7 and bowled Sri Lanka out for 45 in 9.5 overs. Bangladesh made 111/7 in a rain-shortened game of 13 overs a side, and Pakistan chased it down for 112/4 in 11.3 overs, according to match reports. Sri Lanka then beat Bangladesh by 63 runs for bronze earlier on October 3, as covered in our bronze-medal recap .

Is this India’s second Asian Games cricket gold?

Yes: India has now won the men’s cricket gold at both Asian Games it has entered, in Hangzhou in 2023 (the 2022 Games were held that year) and in Aichi-Nagoya in 2026. Men’s cricket has been played in the T20 format at four Games, in 2010, 2014, 2023 and 2026. Bangladesh won in 2010 and Sri Lanka in 2014, and India sent no men’s team to either. In 2023 India’s final against Afghanistan ended in no result, and India took gold on higher seeding. India’s women’s team also won gold in 2026.

Did the teams shake hands, and what happened at the medal ceremony?

Reports said there were no handshakes at the toss, after the match or at the medal ceremony, and that the ceremony was substantially delayed. According to a wire-service report, the captains declined the usual pre-match handshake. The same report said ICC chair Jay Shah presented medals to the Indian players only, while Pakistan and Sri Lanka received theirs from Asian Games officials, and that no reason was given for the delay or the apparent change to the ceremony plans. A second report from an Indian news site gave the same split on who presented the medals. We did not find an official statement from the Games organizers, the ICC or either board about the arrangements, and we do not offer a reason here.

Who was Player of the Match?

No Player of the Match award was named in any match report or published result we could read as of about 3:45 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, October 3, 2026. We name none.

What is next for India?

India’s next scheduled cricket after the Asian Games is the five-match T20I series against West Indies, which opens on October 6, 2026, in Lucknow. Our India vs West Indies schedule and how-to-watch guide has every date and the US start times, and our Sooryavanshi profile covers the 15-year-old opener’s record through this final.

How we verified this

Pinned date and status. Facts are current as of Saturday, October 3, 2026, about 3:45 p.m. U.S. Eastern (4:45 a.m. Sunday in Japan), several hours after the match ended. The result is final and cannot change. The items still open at write time are the exact first-ball time, any Player of the Match award and any official statement about the medal ceremony (all covered below). Result and totals. India’s 211/6, Pakistan’s 192/6 and the 19-run margin were checked against the sport’s international governing body’s own match report, a wire-service report carried by an international broadcaster, two Pakistani news outlets’ reports, a U.S. sports portal’s result page, a regional Indian news site and the tournament’s published results page. All agree on the result, on India winning the toss and batting first, and on the captains (Shreyas Iyer and Sahibzada Farhan). No full scorecard. Major live-scoring pages could not be opened, so no raw scorecard was available. We therefore publish only figures that at least two sources give, and we leave out Shivam Dube’s bowling figures, powerplay and 10-over scores, fall-of-wicket numbers and most dismissal modes. Where one outlet’s own reports disagreed (Pakistan’s score after the powerplay appeared as 39/3 in one piece and 39/2 in another), we used neither. Conflicts between sources. (1) One Pakistani TV outlet’s summary calls Hasan Nawaz “unbeaten” on 96; the daily-newspaper match report and the tournament results page have him out on the last ball, caught behind off Shivam Dube, and the wicket count agrees: five other Pakistan batters are recorded as dismissed, so he was the sixth of the six wickets that fell. We followed the last-ball dismissal. (2) Two match reports give Tilak Varma’s 51 not out as three fours and four sixes; one result page lists four fours. We followed the match reports. (3) Reports differ on who dismissed Abhishek Sharma, so we give no dismissal for him. (4) The start time is listed as 2 p.m. Japan time on the tournament results page and in one preview (1 a.m. Eastern), but another preview gave 1:30 p.m. We say only that it was an afternoon start locally and the early hours of Saturday in the U.S. Single-source details. Abhishek Sharma’s fifty in 20 balls, the two dropped chances and the near run-out come from one wire-service report and are attributed to it. The 62-run sixth-wicket stand (31 balls in one report, about five overs in another) and the 87-run fourth-wicket stand each appear in at least two reports. Sooryavanshi’s 15 off 9 balls and his third-over dismissal come from two match reports. Handshakes and ceremony. The detailed account (no pre-match handshake between the captains, none at the end or at the medal ceremony, a substantially delayed ceremony, ICC chair Jay Shah presenting medals to the Indian players only, Games officials presenting them to Pakistan and Sri Lanka) comes from one wire-service report. A second report from a regional Indian news site agrees on who presented the medals, and headlines from several other outlets, including a U.S. wire service, say there were no handshakes. The wire report said no reason was given for the delay or the change; we offer none and add no commentary. A count of consecutive meetings without handshakes in one report was left out because we could not confirm it. We found no official statement from the Games organizers, the ICC or either board about the arrangements as of the pinned time. Items not stated. No report or published result we could read named a Player of the Match, so none is given. A fan-reaction piece calls Nawaz’s 96 the highest by a Pakistani batter against India in T20 internationals; we could not confirm that with a stats check and left it out. Context claims. The semi-final scores (India 169/7 beat Sri Lanka, all out 45 in 9.5 overs; Bangladesh 111/7 lost to Pakistan’s 112/4 in 11.3 overs in a 13-overs-a-side game) and Sri Lanka’s 63-run bronze win match our own bronze-medal recap and the tournament results page. The men’s medal history, India’s absence from the 2010 and 2014 Games, and the 2023 final (no result, India taking gold on higher seeding) come from encyclopedia-style cricket pages cross-checked with a cricket-news list of winners. India’s women’s gold comes from the tournament results page and a wire-service headline. No medal table is given. Betting and predictions. No betting odds, spreads, or win-probability models appear anywhere on this page. Pre-match pages carrying betting tips surfaced during research and were not used.