Team India skipper Rohit Sharma lost the toss yet again as Pakistan's Mohammad Rizwan opted to bat first on what looked like a track that might slow down as the game progresses in the high-octane clash in Dubai on Sunday, February 23. This was the 12th consecutive toss lost for India in ODIs from the World Cup 2023 final onwards and it is now the world record for most tosses lost in a row by any team in the format's history. India broke the Netherlands' record of 11 tosses lost between 2011 and 2013 in ODIs.
India batted second after losing the toss in their campaign opener against Bangladesh but since the target was less than 230, the Men in Blue were able to overhaul the target without much trouble. Looking at the nature of the surface, which got sluggish and low and slow, Rizwan didn't hesitate in opting to bat first.
India lost all three tosses in the away series against South Africa in December 2023. Similarly, all of them in the ODI series against Sri Lanka in July-August last year before not having the coin fall in the favour for third time in a row in all the matches against England recently as well.
India went unchanged which meant that Arshdeep Singh continued to be on the sidelines as the team management wouldn't want to tinker with a winning combination while Pakistan made the only change across 22 players with Imam ul Haq replacing the injured Fakhar Zaman, who has been ruled out of the tournament. It is a must-win clash for Pakistan as they were flattened by New Zealand in the tournament opener while India have some of the breathing space after beating Bangladesh in their first game.
Playing XIs
India: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav
Pakistan: Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan(w/c), Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
