Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat first against India in a Super 4 match of the 14th edition of the Asia Cup at the Dubai International Stadium.
India expectedly have gone in with an unchanged playing XI that mauled Bangladesh by 7 wickets in their first Super 4 stage match couple of nights ago.
Pakistan, on the other hand, have made two changes. Mohammad Amir comes back in place of place of Harris Sohail and Usman Khan made way for leggie Shadab Khan who did not play against Afghanistan because of a stiff back.
Pakistan captain Sarfraz feels the used pitch will only get slower as the day progresses and that prompted him to bat first. "We would like to bat. It's a used pitch. Looks like a flat wicket so we would like to put a good score on the board today," said Sarfraz.
Rohit Sharma defended his wrist spinners despite not picking up wickets in the tournament so far.
"It's important for me to get my team off to a good start. That's my job. That's the role I play. It is important to not lose early wickets, and if the runs come for me then that is in the best interest of the team. I'm happy with the wrist spinners. They went wicketless in the last game but they know what they're doing, they know what is expected of them in the middle overs. They're still learning, and they know what is expected of them," said Rohit Sharma.
Teams
India: Rohit Sharma(captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed(captain), Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Amir, Shaheen Afridi.