India vs Pakistan Highlights, Asian Games GOLD medal match: IND survive Hasan Nawaz thriller to clinch GOLD

That's a batting-heavy unit with three regular spinners, one part-timer in Abhishek and two pace options.

India opt to bat first against Pakistan. And NO HANDSHAKE there…had to put it out there.

Indian cricket has produced legends against Pakistan. The great Sachin Tendulkar made his debut against them in 1989 and, some 14 years later, played one of the most breathtaking knocks of his career at Centurion in the World Cup. Virat Kohli relishes batting against Pakistan. He could never play a Test against them like Tendulkar, but in 17 ODI innings, Kohli has plundered 778 runs at an average of 59.84, with four hundreds.

Is today the day for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi?

Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by 63 runs to finish third in men's cricket. Tharindu Ratnayake is the real hero for Sri Lanka with his all-round performance -- 65 off 32 and two wickets for 18.

This is Sri Lanka's second medal in men's cricket at the Asian Games, having clinched gold in 2014, after beating Afghanistan, an edition where India did not participate. In fact, India made their men's cricket debut at the Asiad in 2022.

Interim coach VVS Laxman got the combo right, especially with the batting line-up – keeping Sooryavanshi at top with Abhishek, using Ishan and Iyer as spin specialists at the top and derailing Tilak's entry, with the batter vulnerable against spinners.

Spin! That's what has dictated most of the matches at the Asian Games this time. Spin has amounted for 70 wickets in the men's competition, at just 15.25, with an economy rate of 5.94. Pacers have picked 26 wickets at almost 20. India, who have featured four spinners in their only completed game thus far, picked up five wickets at just 6.4 -- the best among all teams. Pakistan spinners, on the other hand, have averaged 8.1.

Fortunately NO! The chance of rain is well below 20% during the match hours, implying we are all set for the game, and a result.

But…BUT! Should there be a weather intervention in the game, resulting in a no result, the gold will be shared between the two teams.

Pakistan Squad: Sahibzada Farhan(c), Maaz Sadaqat, Usman Khan(w), Saim Ayub, Hasan Nawaz, Abdul Samad, Arafat Minhas, Ahmed Daniyal, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Abrar Ahmed, Sufyan Moqim, Saad Masood, Ali Raza, Akif Javed, Haider Ali

India Squad: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Yash Thakur, Vipraj Nigam

Hello and welcome to the Live coverage of the men's cricket gold medal match between India and Pakistan at the Asian Games. Stay tuned for more updates!