 "Rohit Sharma and Mohammad Rizwan at the toss. Image: SkySports")
The highly anticipated India vs Pakistan clash in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 is underway , with Pakistan skipper Mohammad Rizwan winning the toss and opting to bat first at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday, February 23.
Both teams have fielded strong playing XIs for this crucial group-stage encounter. India, led by Rohit Sharma, have gone with the same combination, while Pakistan have made just one change, replacing an injured Fakhar Zaman with Imam-ul-Haq.
“Looks like a good surface and doesn’t matter, so we want to bat first. If you play an ICC event, every game is important. The boys are familiar with the conditions and we’ve done well in this ground as well. Yeah, we lost the last game but it’s in the past for us. One change: Imam in for Fakhar,” Rizwan said at the toss.
“Doesn’t matter, and we will bowl first. It’s not the same surface but looks similar to what we played on, in the last game. It could get slower. Great opportunity to come out and do what we do as a team. The way we played the last game…it wasn’t easy for us and we had to work our way. You want to test yourself and be under pressure. We’re playing the same team,” Rohit said.
India vs Pakistan, Champions Trophy 2025: Playing XIs
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav
Impact Shorts
More ShortsPakistan: Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (wk/c), Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed