India 169 for 7 (Kishan 80*, Sooryavanshi 38, Arachchige 2-28, Ratnayake 2-32) beat Sri Lanka 45 (Abhishek 2-2, Bumrah 2-7, Axar 2-8) by 124 runs

The result sets up the first India vs Pakistan final of 2026, and there will be a gold medal at stake.

Bowlers’ day out in Nisshin

India picked four spinners in their XI and Sri Lanka three in what was their first bit of action at the competition after their quarter-final fixtures were rained out. It proved to be the right strategy as spinners bowled 83% of all the balls bowled (149 out 179) across the 29.5 overs of play. They took 12 wickets, bowled 73 dots and went at an economy of 6.56. The quick bowlers conceded 44 runs in 30 balls. Bumrah’s share in that: 2 for 7 in two overs.

The bowlers’ domination started early in the game as the weather held for the second game running on the day.

In the chase, Sineth Jayawardena looked to take Bumrah on early and looked hapless as the ball seamed in to beat the across-the-line swing and hit him on the back leg in front of all three. Sohan de Livera fell victim to Bumrah’s exaggerated angle from over the wicket and nicked to the keeper. For the first time in a men’s T20I, India has taken two wickets before conceding a run.

The fifth ball of Bumrah’s second over trampolined off a length, seemed to pick up pace off the pitch, and needed Samson to leap right up to catch it. Nuwanidu, the batter, was lucky that the line of the ball was not straighter.

Run outs make it worse for Sri Lanka

Despite the Bumrah threat, India did not turn to pace for the remainder of the innings. That was likely because Lasith Croospulle was run out by sharp work from Ravi Bishnoi at short third in the over before, and Arachchige and Ashen Bandara committing the cardinal sin of sweeping Axar and giving away their wickets.

Washington Sundar’s introduction with Sri Lanka on 18 for 5 did not faze Nuwanidu. The first ball spun big but went down leg. Next three balls had two sixes, the second an effortless twirl of the bat to send the ball over long-on. Then Nuwanidu went for a non-existent single to short third and Sri Lanka ran their way out to a point of no return.

Kishan and Sooryavanshi find a way

In conditions where batting was far from easy, Kishan and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi found ways to maximise the strengths of their respective games.

Sooryavanshi opened up the off side repeatedly by either making room or standing still and slapping balls, even when they were angling in. He brought up India’s 50 with 4, 6, 4 off Tharindu Ratnayake but fell to Arachchige, in similar fashion to Abhishek, soon after. He made 38 off 21. Only behind Kishan’s 80 not out. The next highest individual score was Nuwanidu’s 15.

Kishan then walked out and hit two sixes in his first 12 balls. He waited for the bad ball and wasn’t going to miss out if he got one… or two. However, he had to take chances as Shreyas Iyer fell and Axar – promoted above Tilak Varma – got stuck. Kishan’s reverse sweep off Arachchige from a leg-stump line during this slowdown showed he could pull off risks on demand.

Both Axar and Tilak fell cheaply but took India past 100 with handy stands with Kishan, who forced errors out of bowlers and brought up a 33-ball fifty in the 17th. He could have been out twice in the next two balls but survived a ball that turned in a right angle and Nuwanidu’s drop at mid-off.

India hit four sixes and four fours in the last eight overs. Kishan hit all of them bar the last six, hit by Washington. That took them to 169 for 7, a par score in general, maybe twice the par on the day.