Captain Babar Azam won the crucial toss as Pakistan elected to bowl first against India in the 19th match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in New York on Sunday, June 9. In a major decision, India named the similar playing eleven that beat Ireland in the last match while the experienced Imad Wasim returned to Pakistan's starting eleven.
Rain delayed the toss by half an hour at Nassau County International Stadium. Babar revealed Imad Wasim's return from injury who replaced the wicketkeeper batter Azam Khan. Babar added that Azam Khan has been rested despite playing just one game in the tournament.
"We will bowl first because of the weather and moisture in the pitch," Babar Azam said after winning the toss. "The conditions suit us, we have four fast bowlers. We will try to use it to our best. Past is past, we are looking forward to today's match, we are ready and will give our 100%. Always a big game, our confidence is always high for India vs Pak. Azam Khan is resting."
Meanwhile, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma also revealed their desire to bowl first due to playing conditions in New York. Rohit confirmed no changes to their winning combination, leaving out Kuldeep Yadav on the bench again.
"Would've bowled first too," Rohit said. "We need to assess how conditions play and come up with an idea of what a good score is. Those games have helped us assess conditions here. We've spoken about what we need to do as a batting unit to get a good score and then we've got the bowling unit to defend. Every game is important in a World Cup, you can't just show up. Anything can happen. We're sticking to the same XI."
India playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj.
Pakistan playing XI: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Usman Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Amir, Haris Rauf.
