Rohit Sharma led India and made two changes to the side with Rishabh Pant back over Dinesh Karthik for their opening match of the Super Fours against arch-rivals Pakistan, furthermore, Pakistan had won the toss and opted to bowl. Meanwhile, India brought in Deepak Hooda and Ravi Bishnoi surprising many of the Indian fans which means DK making way for the all-rounder. Furthermore, Axar Patel is kept on the bench with Ravi Bishnoi replacing Ravindra Jadeja. Earlier India beat Pakistan by five wickets in the last encounter. Meanwhile, Pakistan made just one change with Mohammad Hasnain replacing Shahnawaz Dahani.
Rohit Sharma – We would have bowled first, but now we need to play freely and assess a good score on this pitch. Momentum counts in this format, you’ve to be on the money from the start, not worry about external pressures. Injury is something we can’t control, Jadeja has been ruled out and he’s back home. It was a headache to select the playing XI – Hardik comes back. Deepak Hooda gets a game and so does Ravi Bishnoi.
Babar Azam – We will bowl first. The dew could be a factor, that’s the reason we’re bowling first. We had a lot of positives from the last match against India. The message is to play positively – one change for us with Hasnain coming in.
India (Playing XI): KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma(c), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant(w), Deepak Hooda, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravi Bishnoi, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh
Pakistan (Playing XI): Mohammad Rizwan(w), Babar Azam(c), Fakhar Zaman, Khushdil Shah, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah
With Ravindra Jadeja not available in this game, Axar Patel looks like a straightforward replacement, but the team combination does take a hit in the absence of the Saurashtra all-rounder.
In the last game against Pakistan, Dravid promoted Jadeja to number four to keep the left-right combination going in the top six, as Rishabh Pant was dropped from the playing XI.
It remains to be seen if skipper Rohit Sharma and Dravid take the gamble again on Sunday. But it won’t be an exaggeration to say that when it comes to the requirement of having a pure left-hand batter in the top six, only the man from Roorkee can provide the solution.
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