Young cricketer Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has made history by winning a gold medal at the 2026 Asian Games. He has now become the youngest Indian athlete to win a gold medal. Notably, the men’s cricket gold medal match between India and Pakistan took place on October 3 at the Karogi Sports Park in Nishin.
India defeated Pakistan by 19 runs in the gold medal match. By winning the gold, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi—who was part of the Indian squad—set a record as the youngest gold medalist; he was 15 years and 6 months old at the time of the victory.
He surpassed shooter Saurabh Chaudhary in this regard; Chaudhary had previously won gold in the 10m air pistol event at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. However, the record for the youngest Indian to win an *individual* gold medal at the Asian Games still belongs to Saurabh Chaudhary, as Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s gold came as part of a team in the cricket event.
How did Vaibhav Sooryavanshi perform in the final?
Regarding the final match, India batted first and scored 211 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in 20 overs. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi managed to score only 15 runs off 9 balls in the final. However, Abhishek Sharma played an innings of 61 runs for the team, while Tilak Varma remained unbeaten on 51*, helping India’s score cross the 200-run mark.
Also Read: Shivam Dube on India’s Asian Games Gold Against Pakistan – ‘Hard to Describe the Feeling’
In response, the Pakistan cricket team could only manage 192 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in 20 overs, suffering a 19-run defeat. For Pakistan, middle-order batter Hasan Nawaz played a magnificent innings of 96 runs off 51 balls, but his effort was not enough to secure a victory for the team. For India, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, and Shivam Dube claimed two wickets each.
