IND vs PAK: India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bat first in his team's opening match against Pakistan in Asia Cup 2023 in Sri Lanka's Pallekele. The Men in Blue face arch-rivals Pakistan in the second match of Group A in the tournament. While Pakistan announced their squad a day before the match, Rohit Sharma named his team at the toss.
India have opted to play both Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill in the team, while Suryakumar Yadav and Mohammed Shami miss out. The Men in Blue opted to pick Shardul Thakur in a three-man pace attack along with Hardik Pandya as the fourth seam option.
"We are going to bat first. There is a bit of weather around, but can't think much about it. Got to play good cricket, you need to embrace the challenge, embrace the situation. We had some time off after the West Indies series. Everyone was up for those drills and challenges in Bangalore. Let's see what we can achieve in this tournament. It's a quality tournament with quality opposition. At the end of the day we need to see what we can achieve as a team. Iyer is back, Bumrah is back and we got three seamers. Got two spinners - Kuldeep and Jadeja," Sharma said at the toss.
India's Playing XI:
Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan(w), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
Pakistan's Playing XI:
Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf
