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The highly anticipated 2025 Asia Cup final between India and Pakistan is set to begin at 8:00 PM IST at the Dubai International Stadium. India won the toss and chose to bowl first. Suryakumar Yadav and Salman Ali Agha did not shake hands again, continuing the row from their earlier meetings in the tournament.
Hardik Pandya has been left out of India’s playing XI because of an injury. Rinku Singh has come in place of the all-rounder, while Shivam Dube returns in place of Harshit Rana. Varun Chakravarthy and Jasprit Bumrah is also back in the playing XI. Pakistan are playing an unchanged XI.
Meanwhile, there were separate hosts for both India and Pakistan captains, with Ravi Shastri speaking to Suryakumar Yadav and Waqar Younis speaking to Salman Agha.
“We are looking to bowl first. It looks like a good wicket. The wicket gets better under lights. We have been batting well first but we would like to chase today. The groundsmen have done a terrific job with the wickets here and it will stay the same. The brand of cricket we have been playing for the last 5-6 games is pretty good and we would like to continue that. Unfortunately Hardik misses out due to a niggle, Arshdeep and Harshit also miss out. Bumrah, Dube and Rinku come in,” SKY said.
“Definitely happy to bat first. We are very excited and looking forward to this game. We haven’t played a perfect game and hopefully we play one today. Same side. We have been playing on these pitches for a while and it will play the same,” Salman Agha said.
India vs Pakistan playing XIs
India’s playing XI: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy
Pakistan’s playing XI: Fakhar Zaman, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha (c), Hussain Talat, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
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