As expected, Team India has made two changes for the Super Four clash against Pakistan in the 2025 Asia Cup. After winning the toss, India captain Suryakumar Yadav confirmed that Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakaravarthy will return to the Playing XI after being rested against Oman in Abu Dhabi.
India make expected changes
This means Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh, who didn’t play the first two group-stage matches, will continue to warm the bench. After exceptional performances, the management won’t rest either of the all-rounders, and that means India will once again go with an 8+3 combination.
“We’ll bowl first. It looks like a nice track, and yesterday there was dew (in the ground). Since the first round, we were thinking we’re playing a knockout tournament; nothing has changed. That was a completely different wicket (in Abu Dhabi). Quite normal, just another game. Bumrah and Varun come back for Arshdeep and Harshit,” Suryakumar told Ravi Shastri.
Sanju Samson slotted at 3 again
Just like the Oman match, Sanju Samson has been slotted at number three. The wicketkeeper batter played a sluggish knock in Abu Dhabi, but it seems like Suryakumar and Gautam Gambhir either feel that he’s better suited to that spot than Tilak Varma or can be better utilised at the spot than down the order.
This also means that Suryakumar won’t come to bat at number three either, like he did against the UAE and Pakistan on September 14.
India’s Playing XI vs Pakistan
Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Sanju Samson (wk), Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy
Bench: Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Rinku Singh
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