Asia Cup: India win toss, opt to bat against Pakistan

Kandy [Sri Lanka]: India won the toss in the high-octane clash against Pakistan in their opening game of the Asia Cup 2023 and opted to bat in the match being played at Pallekele Stadium in Kandy in Sri Lanka.

India captain Rohit said at the toss that the team will focus on playing good cricket. “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,” he said.

“Everyone was up for those drills and challenges in Bengaluru (during camp).  Let’s see what we can achieve in this tournament. It’s a quality tournament with quality opposition.

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,” he added.

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam said they would have also liked to bat first.

“We would have batted first. 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.”

Pakistan began their Asia Cup campaign on August 30 against Nepal. India began their campaign on Saturday.   Ishan Kishan will bat at number 4 position.

India’s Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

Pakistan’s Playing XI: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf.