Why Team India arrived at Dubai Stadium just 35 minutes before coin toss for Champions Trophy 2025 clash against Pakistan?

This was one of the main reason why the stadiums were not jam-packed despite the tickets getting sold out immediately after they went live on the website. 

Before the coin toss, Jasprit Bumrah joined his teammates during their warm-up session. Bumrah came to Dubai to receive The ICC Test Player of the Year Award and Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC men's Cricketer of the Year along with caps for making it to the ICC T20 Team of the Year and the ICC Test Team of the Year.

Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan won the toss and opted to bat first. However, the decision may backfire as dew is expected in the evening which will make it harder for bowlers to grip the ball and give the Indian batters advantage. Rizwan made one mandatory change in the side replacing injured Fakhar Zaman with Imam-ul-Haq.

Meanwhile, India lost their 12th consecutive toss in ODIs. They broke Netherlands' record for most consecutive toss losses in the format. Indian skipper Rohit Sharma did not tinker with the win combination. 

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Babar, Imam depart early

Pakistan lost both their openers early in the innings. Babar Azam looked in good touch as he played a few cover drives to find the boundary. He was dismissed by Hardik Pandya. Babar poked at a delivery outside off stump and was caught by wicketkeeper KL Rahul. He scored 23 runs from 26 balls. Imam could not make the most of the opportunity and was run out by Axar Patel after scoring just 10 runs from 26 balls.