In the high-voltage ICC Champions Trophy 2025 encounter, Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan won the toss and opted to bat first. Opener Imam-ul-Haq replaced an injured Fakhar Zaman in the Pakistan side.
"Will bat first, looks like a good surface. Want to put up a good target. Every match is important in ICC events, we will keep things normal. The boys are familiar with these conditions, we have done well here and we want to do our best today. We lost our last game, but it is past for us now. One change - Fakhar is out, Imam is in," Rizwan said after winning the toss.
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma opted not to make any changes to the winning combination. He did not look worried about the result of the toss and backed batters to do the job if the pitch gets slower during the run chase. Interestingly, this is the 12th consecutive time India have lost the toss, most by an team in the format. They broke the record held by Netherlands.
"Doesn't really matter, they won the toss so we'll bowl first. Looks similar to the last game, the surface is on the slower side. We have an experienced unit in batting so we know what we need to do if the pitches get slower. Need an overall performance from the team - with bat and ball. The last game wasn't an easy one for us, which is always nice. You want to be under pressure and test yourself. We are playing the same team," Rohit said at the coin toss.
Playing XIs
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav
Pakistan Playing XI: Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan(c & wk), Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
India-Pakistan head-to-head in Champions Trophy
India and Pakistan have faced each other in Champions Trophy five times. Pakistan hold an edge over India with three wins out of five. They beat India in Champions Trophy 2017 final by a huge margin.
At Dubai International Cricket Stadium, India and Pakistan locked horns twice in Asia Cup 2018. India beat Pakistan twice in a comprehensive manner.