 "India captain Suryakumar Yadav and his Pakistani counterpart Salman Ali Agha at the toss during their Asia Cup clash. Image: AP")
The highly anticipated Super 4 clash between India and Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2025 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 drama from the previous game.
SKY said that Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy are back in the playing XI in place of Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh. Suryakumar said there was a lot of dew at training last evening, which has influenced his decision to bowl first.
“We’ll bowl first. Looks a nice track and yesterday there was dew. Since first round we were thinking we’re playing a knockout tournament, nothing changes. That was a completely different wicket (in Abu Dhabi). Quite normal, just another game. Bumrah and Varun come back for Arshdeep and Harshit,” SKY said.
Salman Agha said Pakistan would have liked to bowl as well. Pakistan have made two changes with Faheem and Talat coming in for Nawaz and Khushdil.
“Would’ve bowled first as well. It’s a new game, new challenge. The mood is very normal. Pitch looks to be on the slower side. Want to start well with both bat and ball. Two changes. Hasan Nawaz and Khushdil Shah not playing,” Salman said.
Both teams are ready for a high-voltage encounter. India have shown consistency in the tournament so far, not losing a single game and comfortably qualifying for the Super 4. Pakistan, on the other hand, will be looking to make a statement after the handshake row and the drama that ensued.
India vs Pakistan playing XIs
India’s playing XI: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy.
Pakistan’s playing XI: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Fakhar Zaman, Salman Agha (c), Hussain Talat, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed.