Sri Lanka were bowled out for 45 on Thursday, and they play Bangladesh for an Asian Games bronze on Saturday
Bangladesh start as favourites for the men’s cricket bronze in Nisshin at 5:30am IST, two days after Sri Lanka posted their lowest T20I total.
Oct 2, 2026
Sri Lanka’s lowest total in men’s T20Is used to be 77, made against South Africa in New York at the 2024 T20 World Cup. On Thursday in Nisshin they were bowled out for 45 by India. Nuwanidu Fernando was the only one to reach double figures, with 15, and India won the semi-final by 124 runs.
They have two days to get over it. Sri Lanka play Bangladesh for the Asian Games bronze medal at the Korogi Sports Park on Saturday, 3 October, at 9am local time, which is 5:30am IST. India and Pakistan play for gold later the same day.
Two different kinds of defeat
India made 169 for 7 after Sri Lanka sent them in, and Ishan Kishan’s 80 not out from 46 balls did most of the work. Then Jasprit Bumrah took 2 for 7, Abhishek Sharma 2 for 2 and Axar Patel 2 for 8, three batters were run out, and the chase was over inside ten overs. The 45 also equalled the lowest total by a Full Member side in men’s T20Is, West Indies’ 45 against England in 2019.
Bangladesh lost the other semi-final in a very different way. In a game cut to 13 overs because of a wet outfield, they made 111 for 7, with Towhid Hridoy hitting 42 off 25 balls. Pakistan were 53 for 4 and in trouble until Mustafizur Rahman’s tenth over went for 23, and Abdul Samad and Hasan Nawaz finished the chase without losing another wicket. Bangladesh were close for most of that game. Sri Lanka were never close in theirs.
Bangladesh start as favourites
Bangladesh have brought something near their first-choice T20 side to Japan. Litton Das is captain, with Mustafizur, Shoriful Islam, Nasum Ahmed and Rishad Hossain in the attack. They are without Najmul Hossain Shanto, who was ruled out of the tournament with a fever and infection before a ball was bowled.
Litton made 2 in the semi-final, bowled by Saim Ayub, and he needs runs. Sahan Arachchige, the 30-year-old all-rounder, leads a Sri Lanka side that left most of its first-choice T20 players at home and has four uncapped players in the squad. He had Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Abhishek Sharma caught on Thursday, which was about as good as the day got for Sri Lanka.
The pitch could be the leveller. ESPNcricinfo’s preview says the Nisshin surface has cracked and is giving the spinners uneven bounce, and the forecast for Saturday is dry. That is good news for Nasum and Rishad. I would not write Sri Lanka off because of one bad day, but 45 all out is a hard thing to shake inside 48 hours.
A medal each already
Both sides have won this tournament before. Bangladesh took the first Asian Games cricket gold in Guangzhou in 2010, and they won bronze in Incheon in 2014 and in Hangzhou in 2023, the last time beating Pakistan off the final ball. Sri Lanka won gold in Incheon, beating Afghanistan in the final. Cricket was left out of the 2018 Games in Jakarta, so this is only the fourth Asian Games with a men’s event. A bronze on Saturday would give Bangladesh a medal at every one of them.