India’s Asian Games Cricket Double: A Women’s Gold Already Won, and a Men’s Final Happening Right Now
India’s Asian Games campaign has reached its most dramatic stretch yet. The women’s cricket team has already defended their gold medal in record-breaking fashion, Lovlina Borgohain has added another gold to her growing medal collection, and as of today, the men’s cricket team is on the field against archrival Pakistan with gold on the line.
The women’s team already delivered, and delivered big
India’s women’s cricket team beat Sri Lanka by 147 runs in the gold-medal final at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin — a repeat of the Hangzhou 2023 final, and a repeat gold medal for India. This wasn’t a narrow, nervy defense of the title either. Smriti Mandhana top-scored with 79 off 45 balls, and a late flourish from Richa Ghosh, unbeaten on 49 off just 22 balls, helped India post 216/3 — the highest total in women’s T20I cricket history at the Asian Games, beating the previous record set at the same tournament. Sri Lanka, in response, were bowled out for just 69 in 15.4 overs, with Deepti Sharma taking three wickets, as India completed the victory by 147 runs.
For context on how dominant this title defense actually was: India finished the entire women’s cricket tournament with a perfect record — three wins from three matches, with zero losses across the group stage and final combined. It’s India’s second consecutive Asian Games women’s cricket gold, continuing an unbeaten streak in the event since cricket’s return to the Asian Games programme.
Lovlina adds another gold to her collection
Boxer Lovlina Borgohain, the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist, claimed gold in her event at these Games — continuing what’s become one of Indian boxing’s most consistent individual medal records on the continental stage. This adds to a trophy case that already included Asian Games bronze from 2018 and a run of Asian Boxing Championship titles, making her latest gold less a surprise breakthrough and more confirmation of sustained, multi-year dominance in her weight category.
The men’s final: happening as this is being written
Here’s where today’s news is genuinely live rather than settled. India’s men’s cricket team, led by Shreyas Iyer, faces Pakistan in the gold-medal match at Korogi Sports Park on Saturday, October 3 — the same venue that hosted the women’s final. Both teams arrive having looked genuinely dominant in their respective semifinals: India bowled Sri Lanka out for just 45 runs in a rain-affected contest, completing a crushing 124-run victory to book their spot in the final, while Pakistan got past Bangladesh by six wickets in their own semifinal.
India enters this final defending their own title, having won men’s cricket gold at the previous Hangzhou 2023 Games as well — meaning a win today would make it back-to-back golds for both the men’s and women’s programmes in the same Asian Games cycle, a genuinely rare sweep for any cricketing nation to pull off simultaneously. Given this article is being written as the match is underway, the result itself isn’t yet known — but the stakes are about as high as a bilateral India-Pakistan cricket fixture gets: an Olympic-style gold medal, on top of everything that an India-Pakistan cricket match already carries emotionally for fans on both sides.
Why this particular cluster of results matters?
Taken together, these results mark one of the strongest stretches of India’s entire Asian Games campaign. Cricket alone has already delivered one confirmed gold with a tournament-record-breaking performance, and a second gold medal match was still to be decided as of this writing. Combined with Lovlina’s boxing gold and the broader medal tally that’s been building across shooting, athletics, squash, and other disciplines throughout the Games, India’s campaign has moved well past the early-days uncertainty we flagged in our previous coverage, when the country sat mid-table in the standings with much of the competition schedule still ahead.
It’s also worth noting what this cricket result specifically does for the sport’s broader trajectory. With cricket continuing to build its Olympic case ahead of its LA 2028 debut, a dominant, high-profile Asian Games showing from cricket’s biggest market — India — featuring record-setting individual and team performances, is exactly the kind of visibility the sport’s Olympic advocates have been hoping for as it works to establish itself on the biggest multi-sport stage in the world.
What to watch for next?
With the men’s final result still pending as of this writing, that’s the single biggest outstanding storyline from India’s campaign today. Beyond cricket, the Games continue through October 4, meaning India’s final overall medal tally — and where the country ultimately lands in the standings relative to Hangzhou 2023’s historic 106-medal, fourth-place finish — will only be fully clear once competition wraps in the final hours of the tournament.
Check official Asian Games and BCCI channels for the confirmed result of today’s India vs Pakistan men’s cricket final, and the Indian Olympic Association’s tracker for India’s final medal tally as the Games conclude.
