World Cup: Gill returns to XI as India bowl first against Pakistan; Ahmedabad crowd boos Babar Azam at toss
CWC: Gill returns to XI as India bowl first against Pakistan; crowd boos Babar
The Indian Captain, Rohit Sharma, won the toss and elected to bowl first against Pakistan in the marquee World Cup 2023 clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Star opener Shubman Gill returned to the playing XI after recovering from dengue fever, while Pakistan named an unchanged XI.
Here are the two teams:
India- Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
Pakistan - Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf
The crowd seated at the Narendra Modi stadium erupted in joy when Rohit announced the decision to bring in Gill for Ishan Kishan. However, they booed Pakistan Captain Babar Azam when he addressed everyone during this turn.
Meanwhile, Gill returning to the playing XI means Ishan Kishan, who pressed for his case for a spot in the XI with his star performances in the lead-up to the CWC, got overlooked. Mentioning about the same, Rohit acknowledged Kishan’s contribution, saying,“Unfortunate for Ishan to miss out; feel for him, he stepped up when we needed him. Gill has been a special player for us over the past year or so, especially at this ground, and we wanted him back.”
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He remained the only change, with India also opting to play Shardul Thakur ahead of Ravi Ashwin and Mohammed Shami.
With two wins in as many matches, India will look to carry forward the momentum and try and maintain their winning spree over Pakistan in the World Cups.
Babar Azam admitted at the toss that even he looked to bowl first, considering several factors, including the dew that might play a role later in the innings.
Speaking with presenter and commentator Ravi Shastri at the toss, Babar said,
“We also wanted to bowl first. We have had good two wins, and momentum and confidence are high. Jam-packed stadium, we will enjoy it. We want to be good in the field, we had a couple of good practice sessions. Same team for us.”
Meanwhile, Pakistan is unchanged from their previous XI, which created history against Sri Lanka by completing the most successful run-chase in the tournament history.
With Pakistan batting first, they will aim to put runs on the board and bank on their bowlers to deliver in the second innings.
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