A little before sunset in Dubai, Suryakumar Yadav won the flip of the coin and, without much fuss, said India would bowl first against Pakistan in the Asia Cup Super Fours. “There was a lot of dew last night when we trained,” he explained to the host broadcaster. Pretty straightforward logic: wet ball, tougher bowling later, so chase.
India’s XI is back to full strength. Jasprit Bumrah, rested once qualification was secure, slots in for rookie quick Harshit Rana, and Varun Chakravarthy replaces left-armer Arshdeep Singh. Axar Patel, who copped a blow to the helmet against Oman, has been cleared and keeps his spot. No other tweaks.
Pakistan have shuffled as well. Out go the power-hitter Khushdil Shah and youngster Hasan Nawaz; in come seam-bowling all-rounders Hussain Talat and Faheem Ashraf. It means Haris Rauf, after talk he might be rotated, stays on. Captain Salman Agha had hinted yesterday that the side “needed a bit more balance with the ball” – this combination should give him that.
Curiously, neither captain nor match referee Andy Pycroft bothered with the traditional handshake at the toss. Probably nothing in it, but worth noting given the usual pleasantries.
Playing XIs
India: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy.
Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Salman Agha (capt), Mohammad Haris (wk), Hussain Talat, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed.
Quick take
• Dew expected, hence India chasing.
• Bumrah’s first Asia Cup outing this week.
• Pakistan add two seam-all-rounders for extra depth.
• Rauf keeps his place, reinforcing pace attack.
If the surface behaves like it did last Sunday – a touch slow early, quicker later – both skippers will feel they’ve read conditions decently. But, as ever with India-Pakistan, the real answers arrive once the new ball is in hand and nerves settle, or don’t.
