India captain Rohit Sharma has won the toss and elected to bowl first in their Asia Cup 2022 Group A opener against Pakistan at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.
Greeted by a huge roar from fans in a near full-house after winning the toss, Sharma further said they have picked Dinesh Karthik over Rishabh Pant for the last batting slot in the playing eleven.
It means that India have chosen their designated finisher over the left-handedness provided by Pant. "It was a tough call we had to take between playing Dinesh and Rishabh, Rishabh sadly misses out. And Avesh makes it as the third seamer," said Rohit.
He further said that with this being India's first game in Asia Cup 2022, they are focused on improving their previous mistakes.
"Honestly, I don't think the toss is that important, we are just here to play good cricket. We've played here in the IPL, so hopefully the pitch will be good. This is an important game for us, but as cricketers we don't want to think about the opposition, we just want to correct whatever mistakes we are doing."
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam said 19-year-old pacer Naseem Shah, who's already made appearances in ODIs and Tests, is making his T20I debut. "We would have also been bowling first, but this is not in our hands. We will look to make a big score and see. Three fast bowlers, two spinners. There are a few new faces, and some old faces in that Indian team. We are trying to give it our best."
Sunday's Group A clash will see the resumption of 'greatest rivalry' in the world of cricket, which is also the first meeting between India and Pakistan after facing off in the Men's T20 World Cup last year in the UAE, where Pakistan secured a resounding ten-wicket victory over India, their first such victory in Men's World Cups.
Talismanic India batter Virat Kohli is marking a return to international cricket action after the tour of England ended on July 17. Sunday's match against Pakistan will see him become the first India player and only the second men's player after New Zealand's Ross Taylor to clock 100 appearances in all three formats of international cricket.
Playing XIs
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan
Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf and Shahnawaz Dahani