The time for reports is over. At the toss, IND skipper Suryakumar Yadav and PAK captain Salman Ali Agha met once again, but did not shake hands. It just seemed like there were at least two times when the two could have done that, but neither sides approached.
No handshake between IND & PAK
There were indications at least, that that might change finally, but it was not to be, after Agha won the toss and opted to bowl first on a Colombo wicket that could have something for the bowlers. Meanwhile, Surya was happy to bat first. That said, he did make two changes in the side and brought in an extra spinner in the form of Kuldeep Yadav, leaving out Arshdeep Singh.
The second change was, Abhishek Sharma came back in for Sanju Samson. The left-hander had missed out on the Namibia game after a stomach bug. Pakistan fielded the same team though, from their previous match. There were a few talks about Babar Azam’s form, but then the Pakistani legend did get one more game.
Colombo to favour spinners
The pitch in Colombo will most likely assist the spinners. In this decade, on this venue, spinners have bagged 92 wickets at an economy of 6.5, while pacers have 81 wickets at an economy of 7.9. That makes it clear, that the best opportunity to score in the match will be against pace.
India (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan(w), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah.
Pakistan (Playing XI): Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Agha(c), Babar Azam, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Usman Khan(w), Shaheen Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Usman Tariq.
Cricket
IND vs PAK: Toothless Pakistan surrender to India's might as Suryakumar Yadav & co extend streak to 8-1
