Gifted an arm-chair ride by Asian Games organisers, India took gold in the men's cricket on Saturday as the rain-hit T20 final against Afghanistan was decided by the superpower's superior global ranking.
Afghanistan, ranked 10th in the ICC's T20 rankings versus world number one India, were left with silver and powerless to do anything about it after rain halted the match when they were 112 for five after 18.2 overs of the first innings.
With India unable to bat a minimum five overs, play was abandoned soon after 5 p.m. local time (0900 GMT), leaving RuturajGaikwad's team to celebrate victory by default.
Deciding results based purely on teams' global rankings is almost unheard of in cricket, let alone for finals in major tournaments.
Most allow spare days so that deciders can be completed if rain washes out play in the original match.
If no spare days are provided, a winner is generally declared via tie-breaking criteria based on a team's performances within the tournament they are playing.
The rankings rule also helped India's gold medal-winning women's team reach the semi-finals after rain washed out their quarter-final against Malaysia.
