India's men's team stormed into the final of the Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship 2026 with a crushing 56-27 semi-final win over Bangladesh, dominating the match from the opening minutes. India will now face Sri Lanka in the men's final on 31 October, after Sri Lanka edged Kenya 28-24 in the second semi-final.
India set the tone early through the raiding of Naveen Kumar and Neeraj Narwal, while Deepak S and Shubham Shinde anchored the defence. Bangladesh opened their account through a successful raid by Dipayon Goldar, but India quickly took control and forced the first all out inside the opening five minutes.
India build an unassailable half-time lead
Bharat Hooda and Shivam Patare then took over the raiding duties, and India kept stretching their lead while Deepak S continued to hold the defence together. With eight minutes left in the first half, India forced a second all out and went into half-time ahead 28-8. Bangladesh struggled to break through the Indian defence and failed to register a single tackle point in the first half, with Dipayon Goldar and MD Rahman picking up their team's raid points.
After the break, India kept the same rhythm, combining sharp raiding with disciplined defence to lead 38-16 with ten minutes remaining. Hooda remained a constant problem for the Bangladesh defence, and with four minutes left India forced another all out to stretch the lead to 49-20 before closing out a 56-27 win. Across the match India scored 37 raid points, 12 tackle points and 6 points from all outs.
Hooda stars, Sri Lanka await in the final
Hooda finished as India's top scorer with 13 points, followed by Patare with 11 and Narwal with 9. In defence, Ajit Pawar made a telling impact with 5 tackle points from 8 attempts, as India kept Bangladesh under pressure for the full match.
In the second semi-final, Sri Lanka held off a strong challenge from Kenya to win 28-24 and book their place in the final. Milinda Chaturanga and Sabihan scored 6 points each for Sri Lanka, Viduranga added 4, and Made Dwiki Sanjaya contributed 5 tackle points in defence. For Kenya, Helvic Wanjala top-scored with 9 points and Samuel Wafula added 6. India will start the final as clear favourites, but Sri Lanka's semi-final win showed they will not be overawed by the occasion.
