India have won the toss and invited Pakistan to bat first in their World Cup 2023 fixture in Ahmedabad, with the first ball scheduled to be bowled at 1:30pm PST.

Pakistan captain says he would have bowled first, had he won the toss, before proceeding to name an unchanged lineup.

India make one change, with Shubman Gill replacing Ishan Kishan.

Line-ups

Pakistan: 1 Abdullah Shafique, 2 Imam-ul-Haq, 3 Babar Azam (capt), 4 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 5 Saud Shakeel, 6 Iftikhar Ahmed, 7 Shadab Khan, 8 Mohammad Nawaz, 9 Hasan Ali, 10 Shaheen Afridi, 11 Haris Rauf

India: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mohammed Siraj

History

Two-time champions India have a perfect 7-0 record against Pakistan in the 50-overs World Cup and are also the top-ranked ODI team, who have won both their games in the tournament so far.

But Pakistan also have two wins from two at the World Cup after seeing off the Netherlands and Sri Lanka, and Babar is approaching the tournament’s most-anticipated clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium, the world’s largest cricket venue, with a complete disregard for the past.

“I don’t think about the past, I’d rather focus on future,” Babar told reporters with a wry smile on his face on Friday. “All records are meant to be broken, and we’ll try to break this record.”

Under Babar, Pakistan broke a Twenty20 World Cup sequence of five defeats (from 2007 to 2016) against India with a 10-wicket rout at Dubai in 2021.

Babar admitted conditions in Ahmedabad are different from those at Hyderabad where Pakistan played two warm-up matches and their first two World Cup games.

“Yes, the conditions here are different,” said Babar, whose team beat the Netherlands by 81 runs and Sri Lanka by six wickets. “You are better off at a venue where you have spent a few days but we will adapt.”

Source: Dawn 

BDST: 1424 HRS, OCT 14, 2023
MN