India march on to the gold medal match as Sri Lanka drop to the bronze play-off
Sri Lanka CricketNews article
Sri Lanka were handed a massive 124-run defeat by India in the semi-final of the men's cricket competition at the 2026 Asian Games in Japan. India thereby booked their place in the final, while Sri Lanka must now take on Bangladesh on October 3 for the bronze medal. India's win over Sri Lanka also went into the books as their biggest ever victory against Sri Lanka in T20 International history.
Sri Lanka captain Sahan Arachchige won the toss and opted to bowl first, but the Indian batters gave the Sri Lankan bowlers no chance to justify that decision, piling up 169 for 7 at the end of the allotted 20 overs.
India's top scorer Ishan Kishan made 80 off 46 balls with 4 fours and 5 sixes. Vaibhav Suryavanshi gave him fine support with 38 runs.
Kishan also had his share of luck, with several of his aerial shots during the innings falling into gaps between the Sri Lankan fielders. But after Nuwanidu Fernando dropped a chance offered by Kishan when he was on 56, he launched an even fiercer assault on the Sri Lankan bowlers.
Sahan Arachchige and Tharindu Rathnayake picked up 2 wickets each for Sri Lanka, but that was not enough to halt the scoring rate of the Indian batters.
Chasing a target of 170 runs, the Sri Lankan innings collapsed completely against the Indian bowlers, with the side bowled out for 45 in 9.5 overs. Sri Lanka's top scorer Nuwanidu Fernando could manage only 15 runs.
Jasprit Bumrah dismissed Sineth Jayawardana with the second ball of the innings, and Sohan de Livera too fell to his bowling soon after. Bumrah kept landing the ball on a full length as if in a Test match of old, posing a stern challenge to the batters, and took two wickets for 7 runs in two overs.
Axar Patel further crippled the Sri Lankan innings by taking two wickets in his very first over. In the two overs he bowled he conceded just 7 runs and claimed two wickets, with 14 dot balls recorded.
Three run-outs added to Sri Lanka's misfortune in the innings. Notably, two of them were top-order batters.
This is the second lowest total in the history of men's cricket at the Asian Games, and it also equalled the lowest total recorded by a full member nation in a T20 International, matching the 45 made by the West Indies against England in 2019.
With the ball for India, Abhishek Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel took 2 wickets each to wreck the Sri Lankan innings.
India thus recorded a thumping 124-run win to move into the final against Pakistan, while Sri Lanka must play Bangladesh on October 3 for the bronze medal.
India 169 for 7 in 20 overs – (Vaibhav Suryavanshi 38, Abhishek Sharma 07, Sanju Samson 07, Shreyas Iyer 13, Ishan Kishan 80*, Axar Patel 08, Tilak Varma 02, Shivam Dube 03, Washington Sundar 07*, Tharindu Rathnayake 32/2, Sahan Arachchi 28/2, Wanuja Sahan 09/1, Lasith Croospulle 25/1, Nuwanidu Fernando 20/1)
Sri Lanka 45 all out in 9.5 overs – (Sineth Jayawardana 00, Lasith Croospulle 00, Sohan de Livera 00, Nuwanidu Fernando 15, Sahan Arachchige 09, Ashen Bandara 00, Chamika Karunaratne 04, Wanuja Sahan 04, Tharindu Rathnayake 05, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth 00*, Binura Fernando 00, Jasprit Bumrah 07/2, Axar Patel 08/2, Abhishek Sharma 02/2, Washington Sundar 18/1)
Based on Sri Lanka Cricket reporting