India opted to bat first after Rohit Sharma won the toss.
India and Pakistan faced off in the third match of the Asia Cup 2023 being played at the Pallekele Stadium in Kandy, Sri Lanka on September 2nd. This is the 14th meeting between the two sides in the continental tournament.
India won the toss and chose to bat first despite threats of rain around. While Pakistan came into this clash with the same combination that played in the Nepal match, India captain Rohit Sharma revealed that India had gone in with three seamers and two spinners.
While Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav were the spinners and Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj were the two pacers, the team sheet revealed that they had opted for an extra all-rounder and picked Shardul Thakur in the XI, leaving Mohammad Shami out of the side.
Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar lashed out at the team management for not taking care of bowling depth in a playing XI and questioned the selection of Thakur over Shami.
"I am against this thought. People talk about batting depth but what about bowling depth? Isn't Mohammed Shami more a threat to Pakistan batters than Shardul Thakur? I wouldn't worry about batting depth but leaving someone put like a Shami, especially on a surface where you see the ball seam around, India should have gone with three quality seamers. It just shows signs of insecurity and not trusting you batters in Jadeja at No.7," he said on Star Sports.
Australia batting great Matthew Hayden, agreed with Sanjay Manjrekar and opined that there probably must be information missing regarding Shami's non-selection.
"I 100% agree. Shami should have been there. The only thing that is missing is Shami. There has got to be a reason which we are missing about his non-selection," he added.
Former India coach Ravi Shastri said: "One surprise there is no Shami....there must be something to it."