The big question for India will be whether Axar Patel will play following his head injury occurred while fielding during the game against Oman.
No Saim Ayub for Pakistan at top, Fakhar Zaman opening the batting with Sahibzada Farhan. Hardik Pandya takes the new ball again! The match is underway. A brief delay after the first ball and Farhan is ready to continue. Abhishek Sharma drops a catch at third man as Farhan played a loose shot. First boundary for Pakistan, who are 6/0 after the opening over.
Unfair on Arshdeep Singh, who became the first Indian bowler to take 100 T20I wickets in the previous match but the class of Jasprit Bumrah surpasses it.
Salman Agha had won the toss in the previous game against India in Asia Cup 2025 but it has now fallen in favour of Suryakumar Yadav, who has opted to bowl first. The 35-year-old announces that Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy have returned to the playing XI, while the Men in Green have drafted in Faheem Ashraf and Hussain Talat for Hassan Nawaz and Khushdil Shah.
Not to mention! No HANDSHAKES AGAIN between Suryakumar and Salman Agha.
India (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Sanju Samson(w), Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Pakistan playing XI: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Fakhar Zaman, Salman Ali Agha (C), Mohammad Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Haris (WK), Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed.
Just minutes away from the toss as Salman Agha and Suryakumar Yadav head for it.
Pakistan had strangely opted to bat first against India in the Group stage when majority of the teams have won chasing.
We have been reading reports that the pitch is the same as the one played between the two teams on September 14, 2025.
Just a little more than an hour to go for the toss.
Just a recap of the first match of Super 4 stage. Bangladesh overcame Sri Lanka, chasing down 169 in a nervy run-chase.
Pakistan had notably also cancelled the pre-game press conference.
Aside from the on-field action, the lens will strongly be on whether Suryakumar Yadav and Salman Ali Agha will shake hands before the toss. Plenty of stories and speculations have dominated since the aftermath of the Group stage clash.
The big question for India will be whether Axar Patel will play following his head injury occurred while fielding during the game against Oman. The Men in Blue don’t have a like-for-like replacement for Axar either. For Pakistan, there have been reports of changes in the batting order, with pacer Haris Rauf also set to be included in the line-up.
Fans have started arriving for the big clash.
Team India and Pakistan are gearing up to go again as the Super 4 round of Asia Cup 2025 looms large upon the fans. It was only last Sunday that India comprehensively beat their arch-rivals and plenty of drama unfolded from the Pakistani camp, not least regarding their shambolic performance but over how Suryakumar Yadav and co. refused to shake hands with them.
India are coming off a nervy 21-run stand but they will be confident ahead of the game against Pakistan after all their batters spent some time in the middle. The Men in Blue will also have their gun bowlers in Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy returning to the fold after being rested for the game against Oman. Hence, they will field their best eleven against the Men in Green.
Meanwhile, Pakistan had something to cheer about after defeating the UAE by 41 runs to reach the Super 4. However, their batting once again collapsed against the UAE and needed another cameo from Shaheen Shah Afridi to reach a match-winning score of 146/9. However, there are no room for lapses against Team India, who will grab the match by the scruff of the neck even in case of a small window.
India vs Pakistan Asia Cup 2025 squads
India sqaud: Surya Kumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (WK), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh.
Standby players: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel.
Pakistan squad: Salman Agha (c), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem.