Mohsin Naqvi will not attend the awards ceremony at the Asian Games final

The competitive process in cricket is gaining momentum within the Asian Games 2026. The final match between India and Pakistan is scheduled for October 3rd (Saturday) in the city of Nishin.

Prior to this, Pakistan reached the final after defeating Bangladesh on October 1st (Thursday). Meanwhile, the Indian team reached the final by beating Sri Lanka in the semi-final.

An important question arises regarding how the gold medal will be distributed if the grand match between the two teams is cancelled due to precipitation.

For the men's final of the Asian Games 2026, no reserve day has been provided. This means that if the match does not take place on October 3rd due to rain, it will not be postponed to the next day.

In such a situation, instead of awarding the winner to one team, both teams—India and Pakistan—will be awarded gold medals. That is, if the match between India and Pakistan is completely cancelled due to rain, both teams will become gold medalists.

It is important to note that at the Asian Games 2026, the decision on the winner will not be based on the ICC T20I ranking. Previously, at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, when the final between India and Afghanistan did not take place due to rain, the gold medal was awarded to the Indian team with the best ICC T20I ranking.

However, the rules have changed for the Asian Games 2026. Now, if the final match is cancelled due to bad weather, both finalist teams will receive a gold medal. Thus, if the India-Pakistan match is cancelled, both teams will share the title of Asian Games 2026 champions, even without playing a single ball.

The quarterfinals of the men's cricket tournament at the Asian Games 2026 in Nagoya have been fully determined. After the match in Group A was cancelled due to rain on September 26 (Saturday), Nepal and Afghanistan advanced to the next round, while the host country Japan was eliminated from the tournament.

Malaysia and Hong Kong advanced to the next stage from Group B. In the last match of Group A, Nepal and Japan faced each other. This match took place at Korogi Sports Park in Nishin city. Nepal, having lost the toss, started with bat, scoring a strong total of 149/4 in 15 overs. Sandeep Jora and Lokesh Bam helped the team reach a good position, but then it started raining. Due to the continuous rain, Japan's innings did not begin, and the match ended without a winner.

This result brought direct benefits to Nepal and Afghanistan. Earlier, Nepal achieved a major surprise in Group A by defeating Afghanistan. For Japan, this match was the last chance to remain in the tournament, but the rain dashed its hopes.

In Group B, the match between Malaysia and Oman was also cancelled due to rain, and no balls were bowled. As a result of this match, Malaysia and Hong Kong qualified for the quarterfinals, and Oman's campaign ended.

Following the completion of the preliminary round matches, the full quarterfinal schedule was announced. India will face Afghanistan on September 28 (Monday) at 10:00 AM. On the same day, at 5:30 AM Indian time, Pakistan and Hong Kong will meet. The third quarterfinal match will feature Sri Lanka against Nepal, and in the fourth quarterfinal, Malaysia will play against Bangladesh. Both of these matches will take place on September 29 (Tuesday).

The romance of women's cricket at the 2026 Asian Games has reached its peak as the Indian and Sri Lankan teams will meet again for the gold medal. These two teams have previously faced each other in the Asian Games final.

India won the last time. The defending champion demonstrated outstanding play in the tournament. In the quarter-finals, India achieved their goal in just 5 overs, restricting Japan to only 57 runs. In the semi-finals, the team scored an impressive 195 runs against Bangladesh, which was eliminated with 81 points. Thus, the Indian players intend to continue playing strongly against Sri Lanka, aiming to win gold.

The Indian team secured a dominant victory with a score of 114 runs, and now they are ready to face Sri Lanka in the gold medal match.

For their part, the Sri Lankan team also showed excellent play. They advanced to the final by defeating Malaysia in the quarter-finals by a margin of 86 runs and Pakistan in the semi-finals by 8 wickets. Sri Lanka's captain and star all-rounder, Chamari Atapattu, is in great form and could be the biggest threat to India. Besides Atapattu, Hasini Perera and Kavisha Dilhari played well. Sri Lanka understands that to beat India, they need to put pressure on the Indian batsmen early in the game.

The foundation of the Indian team's attack is Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma, who consistently score runs. In bowling, Dipti Sharma and Shri Charani successfully use their spin bowling to dismiss batsmen. Nevertheless, slight instability in the middle order of the Indian team is a concern. Middle-order players, with the exception of captain Harmanpreet Kaur, failed to show the expected level of play, which requires improvement before the final.

Looking at head-to-head statistics, India had an advantage in T20 cricket. Out of 31 matches between the two teams, India won 25. Furthermore, this month both teams met in the Women's Asian Cup final, where the Indian team won convincingly by a margin of 72 runs.