Abhishek Sharma was the familiar nemesis upfront while Tilak Varma became a tormentor towards the end as India lived up to its top billing by defending the Asian Games gold medal with a 19-run win over bitter foes Pakistan in the final on Saturday (October 3, 2026).
The pitch was a tricky one but eased out later as world’s No. On a pitch where stroke-making was difficult, he smashed seven sixes, once again underlining his stroke-hitting capability. 1 T20I batter Abhishek smashed 61 off 28 balls, with seven sixes, and vice-captain Tilak silenced his critics with a top-notch unbeaten 51 off 22 balls. India posted a mammoth 211/6 in 20 overs before an unheralded Hasan Nawaz (96 off 51 balls) gave everything he had to make a match of it. But Pakistan were stopped at 192 for 6 in the end. India thus extended their dominance over the arch-rivals and kept the head-to-head since the start of the 2024 T20 World Cup to 6-0. In Saturday’s (October 3) game, it was Abhishek, who finished the contest during India’s batting Powerplay that yielded 81 runs.
Ishan Kishan (20 off 18 balls) briefly consolidated he team’s position in company of skipper Shreyas Iyer (21 off 24) as they added 35 runs for the fourth wicket before Pakistan’s best bowler — left-arm spinner Arafat Minhas (2/25 in 3 overs) — sent him back. In the last over bowled by pacer Ahmed Daniyal, 16 more were scored as India hit a total of 15 sixes on a track assisting the spinners heavily. India scored 81 for 2 in Powerplay and the Pakistan team looked completely clueless after Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (15 off 9 balls) started the mayhem with a couple of sixes off debutant leg-spinner Saad Masood.