Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed won the toss and elected to bat first in a long-awaited contest against India at the Asia Cup 2018 in Dubai on Wednesday.
India made two changes to its side by bringing in Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya in place of Shardul Thakur and Khaleel Ahmed.
Pakistan plays an unchanged side that beat Hong Kong in the opening encounter.
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Teams:
India: Rohit Sharma(captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni(wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed(wicketkeeper/captain), Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Usman Khan
In this Asia Cup 2018, Pakistan easily outplayed Hong Kong in their opening encounter by eight wickets.
But India huffed and puffed to win the game against Hong Kong on Tuesday.
The wait is over. The moment that fans have been waiting for is here. It will not have any bearing on the standings or venues for the next stage. Who cares? It’s India versus Pakistan. That too in the Gulf.
The setting may not be the famous Sharjah ground but come Wednesday, the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, choc-a-bloc with 25,000 fans, could easily resemble Lahore or Ludhiana, Mumbai or Multan or even Karachi or Kolkata. The scorching heat will not matter. After all, the ‘arch-rivals’ have not faced each other since the Champions Trophy final last year.
To add to the razzmatazz, cricket stalwarts and entertainment celebrities are expected to descend on a city that never sleeps for the high-voltage match.
