Sri Lanka crumble for 45 as India set up blockbuster final with Pakistan

India thrashed Sri Lanka by 124 runs in the Asian Games cricket semi-final on Thursday, bowling them out for just 45 to set up a gold medal clash against Pakistan, who had earlier beaten Bangladesh to reach the final.

Ishan Kishan anchored India's innings with a sublime unbeaten 80 off 46 balls, including four fours and five sixes, rescuing the total after a mid-innings wobble and guiding the defending champions to 169 for seven from their 20 overs at Nishin.

The innings also saw Kishan break Manish Pandey's eight year old record for the highest T20 score by an Indian batter coming in at number five or lower, adding further gloss to a knock built around calm accumulation before late acceleration.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi had earlier given India a flying start, smashing 38 off 21 balls with six fours and two sixes to take the innings past fifty inside the powerplay, before both Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson fell cheaply either side of him.

Sri Lanka's chase collapsed almost immediately, with two batters dismissed before the scoreboard even moved and three in total out for ducks, only the second instance among full member nations of a side's top three batters all failing to score.

Nuwanidu Fernando top scored with 15, the only Sri Lankan to reach double figures, before he too was run out attempting to find some momentum, as the innings folded inside ten overs with extras the next highest contributor on 11.

The 45 all out is Sri Lanka's lowest total in T20I history, surpassing the 77 they managed against South Africa at the 2024 World Cup, and also the lowest score by any full member nation in the format, matching West Indies' total against England in 2019.

Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel and Abhishek Sharma each claimed two wickets as India's bowlers ran through the Sri Lankan order, setting up Saturday's gold medal final against Pakistan, while Sri Lanka face Bangladesh in the bronze medal match on the same day.