Pakistan captain Salman Agha won the toss and opted to bat against Suryakumar Yadav-led India in their Asia Cup 2025 Group A match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Both India and Pakistan are playing an unchanged XI for the game.
India vs Pakistan Playing XIs
India Playing XI: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson(w), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy
Pakistan Playing XI: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Mohammad Haris(w), Fakhar Zaman, Salman Agha(c), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Abrar Ahmed.
Pakistan, too, have shown promising form in the tournament. Despite a shaky middle-order performance in their first match against Oman, their batting unit managed to stage a recovery. More importantly, their spin-heavy bowling attack remains their biggest strength and could pose challenges to India’s in-form batters. However, India’s batting depth and reputation as world champions in the shortest format make them a formidable opponent.
The pitch at Dubai International Stadium has been spin-friendly, offering little to seamers due to its low bounce and slower nature. With conditions expected to deteriorate further under the lights, the team winning the toss may prefer to bat first to maximize the advantage of the surface. India captain Suryakumar Yadav said he was fine with bowling first, noting, “Preparations for the game were good, which is important for me.” He added that the team practiced on the adjacent pitch in the previous match against UAE, which played well for batting and improved under lights. India will field the same XI as in their opening game.
