Bhubaneswar: India won the toss and opted to field first against Pakistan in the Asia Cup final in Dubai on Sunday.
The Men in Blue have made three changes in the team. While all-rounder Hardik Pandya was ruled out of the final due to a niggle, Rinku Singh and Shivam Dube were included in the XI, replacing Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh.
“It looks like a good wicket. The wicket gets better under lights. We have been batting well first but we would like to chase today. The groundsmen have done a terrific job with the wickets here and it will stay the same. The brand of cricket we have been playing for the last 5-6 games is pretty good and we would like to continue that. Unfortunately Hardik misses out due to a niggle, Arshdeep and Harshit also miss out. Bumrah, Dube and Rinku come in,” said India Capital Suryakumar Yadav after winning the toss.
Pakistan, meanwhile, retained the same eleven that played in the semifinal, with captain Salman Ali Agha indicating they would have also preferred to bat first.
This is the first-ever Asia Cup final clash between the two nations since the tournament’s inception way back in 1984, with India entering the match unbeaten after defeating Pakistan twice in the tournament. This will also be India’s second Asia Cup T20I final after the 2016 edition, when it won by eight wickets against Bangladesh in Mirpur. For Pakistan, it will be a maiden appearance in the final of the continental tournament in the T20I format.
Team India
Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy.
Team Pakistan
Fakhar Zaman, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha (c), Hussain Talat, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed.
