After India beat Pakistan by 19 runs to retain Asian Games gold, captain Shreyas Iyer said he was 'ecstatic', praised a team that trained through a week of rain without complaint, and called the win a 'collective effort'.
Shreyas Iyer, who won the toss and chose to bat, said he was "ecstatic" after India beat Pakistan by 19 runs in the Asian Games men's cricket gold medal match at the Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin, Japan, on 3 October. India made 211/6, held Pakistan to 192/6 and retained the title they also won at Hangzhou 2023. This piece is about what Iyer said afterwards; the match reports have the ball-by-ball story.
| Match summary | |
|---|---|
| Match | Asian Games 2026 men's cricket gold medal match |
| Venue | Korogi Sports Park, Nisshin, Japan |
| Date | 3 October 2026 |
| India | 211/6 (20 overs) |
| Pakistan | 192/6 (20 overs), Hasan Nawaz 96 |
| Result | India won by 19 runs |
What Iyer said
Asked how it felt, Iyer did not reach far for a word: "If I have to use a word, I would say ecstatic." He then turned to the chase. Pakistan were cruising and had the momentum in the middle overs, and Iyer said he wanted the fifth bowler's overs finished as soon as possible while pacing his lead bowlers' overs well.
His reading of the game was simple. "Especially when the run rate is about 13 to 14, we know that the batsmen, they are going to take charge, and one wicket is going to change the momentum, shift the momentum towards us. So that's what happened, and that crucial wicket of [Ayub] - I don't remember the name of the batsman - that changed the momentum."
On the team, he singled out the XI: "When you're playing a final, you want each and every individual to step up and deliver, and that's what we witnessed today. Abhishek giving us that start, and then Tilak basically finishing off the innings... and then in bowling, Washy taking the charge, Axar being himself all the time, and Bumrah, we know what he has got in his armoury. So, yeah, collective effort and overall I would say comprehensive win."
- Abhishek Sharma 61 off 28 with seven sixes and three fours.
- Tilak Varma 51 not out off 22.
- Shivam Dube 27 off 15 with the bat, plus two wickets.
- Axar Patel and Washington Sundar two wickets each.
- Jasprit Bumrah kept things tight.
The rain and the preparation
The other half of Iyer's answer was about what happened before the match. Since the squad arrived in Japan it had rained "cats and dogs" and the team could not practise for almost a week. The players prepared themselves and did training on the side. "We didn't complain, we didn't give any reasons. So that was a sign of a champion itself, champion team."
It is a useful frame for the result. India won with a big batting total and a bowling group that shared the work, after a week in which they could not do the usual net sessions. Iyer chose to credit the attitude as much as the skill.
Why it matters
It was India's second successive men's Asian Games gold, and the women's team had already won theirs, beating Sri Lanka in their final on 22 September. Iyer's words explain how a captain saw it: no single hero, a wicket that turned the momentum, and a squad that did not make excuses.
Build an XI that wins together
Iyer's "collective effort" is the BuildXI idea in a sentence. You spin eleven real IPL squads from 2008 to 2025, take one player from each, and play a full season with the XI you end up with. A starter, a finisher and bowlers who share the work is what turns a draft into a run of wins. The target is 14-0: fourteen league games, fourteen wins.