India defeated Pakistan at the Asian Games 2026 to clinch the gold medal. They produced a dominant show with the bat, followed by some nervous time in the field, but the bowling unit did enough to clinch a 19-run win at the Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin.
Meanwhile, what was interesting at the Asian Games was the names of some of the players. For example, the fans were left confused seeing TTV Namboori, S Viswanadh and Mani Shanker in the playing XI. The confusion was created as the matchcards were set based on the names of all the players in their respective passports. For the same reason, Tilak Varma became TTV Namboori, Sanju Samson became S Viswanadh and Mani Shankar was none other than Washington Sundar.
Players name vs Names on their passport
Vishwanadh Sanju — Sanju Vishwanadh Samson
Namboori Thakur Tilak Varma — Tilak Varma
Mani Sundar Washington Sundar — Washington Sundar
Iyer Shreyas Santosh — Shreyas Iyer
Dube Shivam Rajesh — Shivam Dube
Patel Axar Rajeshbhai — Axar Patel
Bumrah Jasprit Jasbirsingh — Jasprit Bumrah
Thakur Yash Ravisingh — Yash Thakur
Sooryavanshi Vaibhav — Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
Sharma Abhishek — Abhishek Sharma
Kishan Ishan — Ishan Kishan
Bishnoi Ravi — Ravi Bishnoi
Singh Arshdeep — Arshdeep Singh
Nigam Vipraj — Vipraj Nigam
TTV Namboori’s impressive showing in final
Indian batters produced a blistering show in the powerplay and then again in the backend of the innings. Abhishek Sharma played some flawless cricket, scoring 61 runs off 28 balls. He set the tone of the match, but Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer struggled to keep up with the momentum. It looked like India would settle for somewhere around 160-170 runs, but Tilak Varma and Shivam Dube changed the complexion of the game with some powerful shots.
Tilak made unbeaten 51 off 22 balls, which helped India post 211 runs on the board. If not for his innings, things could have gotten tricky for the team, as Pakistan posted 192 in return.
Meanwhile, the gold was India’s 19th at the ongoing Asian Games. They are currently fifth on the medal tally with 19 golds, 26 silvers and 36 bronze medals.
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