India have won the crucial toss in the Asia Cup 2025 final against Pakistan, choosing to bowl first at a venue where chasing has historically been key.
In the five T20Is previously played between India and Pakistan at this ground, each game has been won by the team chasing, a trend India are clearly aware of. Captain Suryakumar Yadav called correctly after Salman Ali Agha opted for heads, and without much fanfare or even a handshake, confirmed that India would bowl first.
“This looks like a good wicket,” Suryakumar said at the toss. “There hasn’t been a lot of cricket here, so it shouldn’t change much. The brand of cricket we’ve been playing, we just have to continue that.”
India have made a few changes, notably forced by Hardik Pandya’s absence due to a niggle. Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh miss out, with Shivam Dube and Rinku Singh returning to the XI. This indicates a shift in strategy, with India opting to bolster their batting rather than reinforcing the pace attack. It also suggests that Dube or even Axar Patel might be tasked with bowling early overs.
Salman, leading Pakistan, expressed no concern at being put in to bat. “We’re happy to bat first. We haven’t played the perfect game yet, maybe we’ll have to produce that today,” he said. He confirmed Pakistan are unchanged from their previous match.
Playing XIs:
India: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha (capt), Hussain Talat, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
