Asia Cup: India to play against arch rival Pakistan in Dubai today

Dubai: Rohit Sharma-led India will lock horns against Sarfraz Ahmed’s Pakistan in  their group stage clash of the Asia Cup 2018 here on Wednesday.

This will be for the first time since the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 final that they will meet in any international game. The Men in Green had beaten Virat Kohli’s men by 180 runs in that high-octane clash.

Both the teams have a chance to go head-to-head at least twice in this tournament, and thrice if they make it to the final.

However, India will have to defeat Hong Kong on Tuesday before meeting their arch-rivals on Wednesday.

While the Men in Blue are missing the services of regular captain Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni returns to cricket after a two-month break.

Dhoni had retired from Tests in 2014.

There will



be a newcomer in the Indian squad in uncapped Khaleel Ahmed, who was called up for the multi-nation tournament, while Ambati Rayudu is making a comeback to the team after two years.

Squads:

India: Rohit Sharma(Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Ambati Rayudu,  Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav,  Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shardul Thakur, K Khaleel Ahmed.

Pakistan:

Sarfraz Ahmed(Captain), Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Shan Masood,  Shoaib Malik, Haris Sohail, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Junaid Khan, Usman Khan, Mohammad Nawaz,  i, Asif Ali, Mohammad Amir, Shaheen Afridi.

 The match will start at 5 P.M. IST.