India and Pakistan meet each other in the Asia Cup 2025 in the first of potentially three clashes amidst the calls of boycott. The two arch-rivals meet with no fervour this time at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in their Group A encounter. The two teams have gone unchanged in this clash.
India have stuck with their one-specialist pacer and three spin-strategy with two all-round pacers in the team too. Pakistan have also not made a change to their team that defeated Oman in the opener with Shaheen Afridi the lone specialist pacer with Faheem Ashraf offering pace too. The Men in Green have five spin options in Abrar Ahmed, Sufiyan Muqeem, Mohammad Nawaz, Salman Agha and Saim Ayub as the two teams have similar bowling lineups.
Meanwhile, there is no place for the likes of Arshdeep Singh, India's highest wicket-taker in the format and Haris Rauf, who has been breathing fire in the recent times.
Why no Haris Rauf for Pakistan?
Both the teams have stuck with their winning combinations and according to the Playing conditions, they have not made change to their teams. The pitch at the Dubai-based venue is dry and is expected to help the spinners more and hence, the teams went with more spin options and the same can be said for Pakistan.
Pakistan skipper Salman also stated that the pitch is slow which is the reason for going with a spin-heavy team. "Going to bat first. We've been playing good cricket, very excited. Looks like a slow wicket. Just want to bat first and put runs on the board. Same side. Have been here for 20-odd days and are used to the conditions," he said at the toss.
Meanwhile, India skipper Suryakumar stated that he wanted to bowl first anyhow. "We were looking to bowl first, happy with it. We played just one strip away, was a nice wicket and better to bat on in the night. It's humid so hoping for some dew. Same team," Surya said at the toss.
India's Playing XI: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson(w), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy
Pakistan's Playing XI: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Mohammad Haris(w), Fakhar Zaman, Salman Agha(c), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Abrar Ahmed
