Pakistan captain Salman Agha won the toss in Dubai and, somewhat against recent trends, chose to bat first. “Looks a decent surface; we’d rather have runs on the board,” he said on the TV broadcast, outlining a plan to let his spinners defend later in the evening.
India skipper Suryakumar Yadav admitted he would have preferred to chase. “We were going to bowl anyway, so no complaints,” he remarked with a grin, adding that the side “back(s) our two wrist-spinners to do a job if the pitch grips.”
Form and venue history suggest chasing has often paid off here. The last three T20Is between these rivals at this ground have all been won by the side batting second—Pakistan twice, India once. Even so, both camps resisted the urge to tinker, trusting the extra spin option that served them well in their opening fixtures.
India are unchanged from their win over the UAE. Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy remain in tandem, supported by Axar Patel’s left-arm orthodox. Jasprit Bumrah leads the seam attack.
Pakistan name the same XI that defeated Oman, leaving Haris Rauf on the bench again. That means leg-spinner Usama Mir sits out, with left-armer Sufiyan Muqeem and mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed preferred alongside the all-round skills of Mohammad Nawaz.
Teams
Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Salman Agha (capt), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Abrar Ahmed.
India: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Sanju Samson (wk), Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy.
Key points, briefly
• Dubai often favours chasing, yet Pakistan will set the target.
• Both sides retain spin-heavy attacks: Kuldeep-Varun for India; Muqeem-Abrar for Pakistan.
• Seam back-up limited to two specialists apiece—Bumrah and Pandya for India, Shaheen and Faheem for Pakistan.
With temperatures easing after sunset but the surface likely to slow, the captains have doubled-down on spin. If the ball grips, totals of 160-plus could prove tricky to overhaul. India’s wrist-spin duo will fancy that scenario; Pakistan, meanwhile, are banking on Shaheen’s new-ball burst before the slower bowlers squeeze.
Either way, the opening exchanges should reveal whether Salman’s call bucks the chasing trend for good reason—or hands India an early advantage.
