IND vs PAK Final: India have been handed a massive blow for the Asia Cup final against Pakistan, as they will be without their premier all-rounder, Hardik Pandya.
The mega-clash between India and Pakistan—this is the first time in the Asia Cupâ€s history that these two archrivals will meet in the final—got underway on Sunday, September 28, in Dubai.
The Suryakumar Yadav-led unit has been unbeaten in the tournament so far, winning six out of six matches. Pakistan lost only two games, both against India, but their wins against other teams, too, have been scratchy.
India were forced to make a change to their combination as Pandya wasnâ€t part of the XI in the IND vs PAK Asia Cup final.
Hardik Pandya missed the Asia Cup final against Pakistan due to a quadriceps injury that he sustained against Sri Lanka. He was replaced by Rinku Singh for the final.
In Indiaâ€s last Super 4 match against Sri Lanka, Pandya bowled the first over of Sri Lankaâ€s innings and dismissed Kusal Mendis for a duck. However, he soon left the field clutching his left hamstring and didnâ€t return for the rest of Sri Lankaâ€s innings.
Indiaâ€s bowling coach Morne Morkel later said that Pandya had cramps. But now it seems it was more than just cramps, as Pandya has been ruled out of the final.
The absence of Pandya throws a spanner in the Indian teamâ€s balance. Heâ€s been terrific with the bat, but, perhaps more importantly, heâ€s bowled brilliantly, taking the new ball in all of Indiaâ€s matches so far.
Hardik bowled 14 overs in six matches and took four wickets while maintaining a good economy of 8.57. India decided to go with Rinku over Arshdeep Singh or Harshit Rana as Pandyaâ€s replacement. This means that India are lighter on their bowling even more than they were with Pandya in the side.
The five bowlers in Indiaâ€s XI for the final are Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, and Kuldeep Yadav. Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma are the part-time options Suryakumar will have up his sleeve.
Knowing that India are without Pandya, the Pakistani batsmen are likely to go harder against the likes of Dube and Axar, while they can be a little more careful against Bumrah, Kuldeep, and Varun.
Suryakumar won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Agha (c), Hussain Talat, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
India: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (wk), Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy
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