India and Pakistan meet in their first Asian Games cricket final, and the handshake is part of the story

India and Pakistan will play for an Asian Games gold medal in cricket for the first time on Saturday, in a men's T20 final at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin, near Nagoya in Japan.

The match starts at 1:30pm local time, which is 10am in India and 9:30am in Pakistan, according to Esquire India and Outlook India.

How they got here

India barely broke a sweat in their semi-final. They made 169 for 7 against Sri Lanka, with Ishan Kishan scoring 80 not out from 46 balls, then bowled Sri Lanka out for 45 in under 10 overs to win by 124 runs. Jasprit Bumrah took 2 for 7, Al Jazeera reported.

Pakistan had a harder time. Rain cut their semi-final against Bangladesh to 13 overs a side. Bangladesh made 111 for 7, and Pakistan slipped to 53 for 4 before an unbroken stand of 59 took them home by six wickets, according to Outlook India. Vice-captain Abdul Samad finished on 30 not out from 15 balls, Al Jazeera said.

Not quite the usual line-ups

Neither side is quite the usual T20 team. India are led by Shreyas Iyer, with Tilak Varma as his deputy, rather than their regular T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav, while Pakistan are captained by opener Sahibzada Farhan, according to Esquire India and Outlook India.

India's squad still has plenty of firepower. Bumrah, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Axar Patel and the young batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi are all in it. Pakistan's squad is younger, built around players such as Samad, Mohammad Haris, Hasan Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf and the fast bowler Abbas Afridi.

The handshake question

Indian cricketers have not shaken hands with Pakistani players since last year's Asia Cup, when Suryakumar Yadav's side refused the customary greeting, Al Jazeera reported. The practice has continued across tournaments since then.

The Free Press Journal expects no handshake on Saturday either. But the Asian Games are run by the Olympic Council of Asia, not the ICC, and neither the OCA nor the IOC requires players to shake hands, India.com noted. The same report said Indian athletes in table tennis and squash at these Games have shaken hands with Pakistani opponents.

So whatever the players do before and after the match will be watched almost as closely as the cricket.

What a medal would mean

Cricket has been played at three earlier Asian Games. Bangladesh won the first gold in 2010, and Pakistan took bronze that year, according to the list of Asian Games cricket medallists. India won gold in Hangzhou in 2023, when their final against Afghanistan was washed out, Al Jazeera and Wisden reported.

A win would give India back-to-back golds. For Pakistan, it would be a first Asian Games cricket gold.

What to watch

India go in as favourites after the way they flattened Sri Lanka. The pitch at Korogi has been taking turn, the Free Press Journal noted, which could bring spinners like Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi into the game. Pakistan will need their middle order to hold up again, as it did against Bangladesh.

The bronze medal match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh is played first, at 5am Pakistan time.

We will update this story with the result.