NEW DELHI: India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bat against Pakistan in their much-anticipated Asia Cup opener in Pallekele on Saturday.
Jasprit Bumrah leads the pace attack in the company of Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur. Mohammed Shami is reportedly unfit.
Shreyas Iyer is back in the Indian middle-order after a long injury layoff.
India are also playing two spinners in Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja.
Pakistan retained the playing XI that thrashed Nepal in their opening match of the tournament.
After winning the toss, Rohit Sharma said, "We are going to bat first. There is a bit of weather around, but can't think much about it. Got to play good cricket, you need to embrace the challenge, embrace the situation. We had some time off after the West Indies series. Everyone was up for those drills and challenges in Bangalore. Let's see what we can achieve in this tournament. It's a quality tournament with quality oppositions. At the end of the day we need to see what we can achieve as a team. Iyer is back, Bumrah is back and we got three seamers. Got two spinners - Kuldeep and Jadeja."
Pakistan captain Babar Azam said, "We would have batted first, but toss is not in our hands. We have played a lot of cricket here, so we know the conditions. Top teams are playing so Asia Cup is good. We'll try to do our best. We are playing with the same combination, no changes. Performing well always gives you confidence, we'll try to capitalize. It's a high intensity match, we'll try to be calm and composed."
Teams:
India: Rohit Sharma (Capt.), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan (wk), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (Capt.), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf
(With PTI inputs)
