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It wasn’t until Friday night that this fixture was officially confirmed, but make no mistake, the second instalment of India versus Pakistan had long been pencilled-in in the minds of supporters, organisers and players for this Sunday. Its proximity to the sides’ most recent contest, just a week ago, gives it that added layer of intrigue and context, with the sides not quite as unfamiliar with each other as they usually are. This will be the first time since the 2018 Asia Cup that the two face each other in such quick succession.
There isn’t too much to separate these sides, especially in these conditions, as was evident in their tight contesta week ago, but by dint of India pulling the result out, they do go in as slight favourites. Their bowlers fared admirably in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel, using the short ball to devastating effect in a way Babar Azam’s men could neither cope with nor replicate. In the middle order, India have the luxury of a two-in-one player in Hardik Pandya, whom they were able to rest against Hong Kong. Virat Kohli, meanwhile, seems to be creaking back to form, taking advantage of an early reprieve against Pakistan to score a vital 35, followed up by an unbeaten half-century against Hong Kong.
Pakistan won the toss and chose to bowl first. Pakistan have one change in their team as . Rohit Sharma said that Deepak Hooda and Ravi Bishnoi will play and Jadeja and Avesh Khan are out due to injuries and both are unforced changes in the team.
India : 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 KL Rahul, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal
Pakistan : 1 Babar Azam (capt), 2 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 3 Fakhar Zaman, 4 Iftikhar Ahmed, 5 Khushdil Shah, 6 Shadab Khan, 7 Asif Ali, 8 Mohammad Nawaz, 9 Naseem Shah, 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Mohammad Hasnain