India thrash Sri Lanka to set up cricket gold medal showdown with Pakistan

NAGOYA, Japan: India humiliated a second-string Sri Lanka by 124 runs at the Asian Games on Thursday to book a gold-medal decider against arch-rivals Pakistan in the T20 tournament.

The day after India’s depleted ODI team made the second-highest successful chase in an eight-wicket win over West Indies, Shreyas Iyer’s relatively strong outfit bowled out Sri Lanka for 45 in 9.5 overs after setting them 170 for victory.

Pace supremo Jasprit Bumrah (2-7) set the tone with two wickets in the first five balls, trapping Sineth Jayawardena lbw for a duck and having number three Sohan de Livera caught behind for nought.

Panicky opener Lasith Croospulle was then run out with a ludicrous dash for a single as Sri Lanka slumped to three for two at Korogi Athletic Park.

Two more run-outs followed as Sri Lanka collapsed on a warm and sunny afternoon, with number four Nuwanidu Fernando, the second innings’ top scorer, out for 15.

India’s left-arm spinner Abhishek Sharma finished with 2-2 from five balls.

Ishan Kishan smashed an unbeaten 80 from 46 balls to anchor India’s batting and 15-year-old opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi impressed with 38 on his Games debut on a cracked wicket.

“It’s very tricky,” Kishan said of the pitch.

“We know the conditions are not going to be so easy (in the final), especially as they are also a spinner-friendly team,” he added of Pakistan.

In the earlier semi-final, Pakistan middle order batter Abdul Samad blasted an unbeaten 30 off 15 balls to help his team to a six-wicket win over Bangladesh in a match reduced to 13 overs a side due to a wet outfield.

Towhid Hridoy made 42 as Bangladesh set an imposing 112 for victory in the shortened match, with Pakistan’s left-arm spinner Sufyan Moqim taking 3-26.

The semi-finalists were decided by their international rankings, with all four quarter-finals abandoned due to rain.

India will bid for back-to-back men’s cricket titles on Saturday, three years after taking gold in Hangzhou courtesy of the ranking rule when their final against Afghanistan was abandoned due to rain.