India will be without Hardik Pandya in the Asia Cup final clash against Pakistan at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday (September 28). Cramps derailed Hardik's fitness considerably during the Super Fours game against Sri Lanka. Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma also bore the brunt of cramps but were able to recover from it in time.
Meanwhile, Hardik hasn't recovered fully from the fitness concerns and with a packed calendar of white-ball cricket ahead, including the T20 World Cup early next year, India clearly don't want to take a risk with Hardik. The all-rounder's absence means that Rinku Singh slots into the lower middle order but India also needed to play a seamer to compensate for Hardik's absence. Arshdeep Singh, who filled in for Jasprit Bumrah in the Sri Lanka game, doesn't keep his spot while Shivam Dube is also back after resting in that fixture.
Hardik's absence is a big blow for India's team balance, given that he doubles up as one of the two specialist seamers alongside Bumrah, while also shouldering the middle-order batting duties. Rinku, who is playing his first game of this tournament, will have big shoes to fill but the left-hander has shown that he has the goods to deliver. Pakistan, meanwhile, have expectedly named an unchanged XI for the big game. Pakistan have generally been a better side batting first and skipper Salman Ali Agha reckoned as much, despite losing the toss.
"Definitely happy to bat first. We are very excited and looking forward to this game," said Agha at the toss.
"We haven't played a perfect game and hopefully we play one today. Same side. We have been playing on these pitches for a while and it will play the same"
Meanwhile, Suryakumar who won the toss also had a very decision to make, given the trends at this venue and India's modus operandi.
"It looks like a good wicket. The wicket gets better under lights. We have been batting well first but we would like to chase today."
PLAYING XIs
Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan, Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha(c), Hussain Talat, Mohammad Haris(w), Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
India: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson(w), Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy