When Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss on Wednesday, it was already known who would be the team’s 11th player in the Asia Cup opener against Nepal. The Pakistan team had announced the playing XI a day in advance. After winning the coin toss, Babar revealed exactly why the team management decided beforehand to name the playing XI. Pakistan chose three regular pacers in the team, in the form of Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf, while Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan were the spinners.
“We will start first, the field looks very dry and shiny. There is no reason to call the XI before, we wanted to give confidence to our team. To be honest, being the highest ranked team brings a good kind of pressure, we will try to enjoy and do our best,” said Babar during the coin toss.
Nepal captain Rohit Paudel, on the other hand, was understandably elated as he played the Asia Cup for the first time ever.
“Everyone is very happy, it’s our first match in the Asia Cup. Everyone in Nepal is very excited about this match. Most things here are very similar to Nepal, it seems like a great wicket to hit,” he said afterwards . the throw.
Pakistan plays XI:Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (w), Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf.
Nepal plays XI: Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh (w), Rohit Paudel (c), Aarif Sheikh, Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Gulsan Jha, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane, Lalit Rajbanshi.
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