Dubai: Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to field first against the arch-rivals Pakistan in a blockbuster clash in the second match of the Asia Cup 2022 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday. Indian cricket star Virat Kohli is all set to play his 100th T20I match when he takes to the field against Pakistan in the much-anticipated Asia Cup 2022 campaign opener.
The high-profile clash will have a few big names missing, including Jasprit Bumrah, Shaheen Afridi and Harshal Patel, but that won’t take away from the excitement of the two teams competing for the first time since October last year. India are the team in form heading into the Asia Cup 2022, with away T20I series triumphs in Ireland, England and West Indies. Naseem Shah of Pakistan is making a T20 international debut against India.
Speaking at the time of the toss, India captain Rohit Sharma, ‘Honestly, I don’t think the toss is that important, we just hear to play good cricket. We’ve played here in the IPL, so hopefully, the pitch will be good. 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. 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. We are bowling first’.
Speaking at the time of toss, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam, ‘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 and a debut for Naseem Shah. There are a few new faces, and some old faces in that Indian team. We are trying to give it our best’.
The last time India met Pakistan in a T20I was the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, where they were thoroughly defeated with Pakistan registering a 10-wicket victory. That was the first time Pakistan defeated India in a World Cup clash. And now, India finally have their chance to avenge the loss.
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Dinesh Karthik(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal and Arshdeep Singh.
Pakistan (Playing XI): Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf and Shahnawaz Dahani.
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