Hardik Pandya ruled out; SKY's India opt to bowl against Agha Salman's Pakistan in Asia Cup final

India won the toss and elected to bowl first [Source: AFP]

In a significant development, India won the toss and elected to bowl first in the final of the Asia Cup 2025 against Pakistan. At toss, Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav revealed that his side would bowl first in order to capitalise on Dubai International Cricket Stadium's playing conditions. 

Suryakumar Yadav confirmed three changes in the Indian playing XI, with Rinku Singh, Jasprit Bumrah and Shivam Dube coming for Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana, respectively. On the other hand, Pakistan have gone with an unchanged playing XI. Pandya has been ruled out of the all-important game due to a niggle, revealed Suryakumar. 

IND vs PAK toss update: Captains' thoughts

"We would look to bowl first. It looks a good wicket, we played only 2 games here, under lights it gets better. We would love to chase today. It looks hard. Groundsmen have done a good job, should be okay for the 40 overs. Occasion should not matter. The brand of cricket, we have been playing, we have to continue and play better cricket. Unfortunately, Hardik misses out, Arshdeep and Harshit miss out as well. Rinku and Shivam Dube come in," Suryakumar Yadav stated. 

"We are happy to bat first as well. We have been doing that since we came here. We are really excited to be playing in the final. We are looking forward to this game. We haven't played our perfect game yet. We are hoping to do that tonight. No changes for us. We are playing the same team. We have been playing on these pitches. It should play the same way," Agha Salman said. 

IND vs PAK: Playing XIs

India: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Rinku Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah

Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan, Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha (c), Hussain Talat, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Abrar Ahmed, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf

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