A huge roar went around the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad as Rohit Sharma announced Shubman Gill’s name as part of India’s playing XI against Pakistan after winning the toss in the ICC Cricket World Cup on Saturday.
Gill is the leading run-getter in one-day internationals in 2023 but missed India’s victories over Australia and Afghanistan in the first two clashes. The elegant right-hander had returned to the nets on the eve of the match.
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“(Shubman) Gill is back in place of Ishan (Kishan), 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,” Rohit said after opting to bowl first.
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In Gill’s absence, Ishan Kishan opened with Rohit and scored a duck against Australia in Chennai and 47 against Afghanistan in New Delhi.
India defeated five-time champion Australia by six wickets in Chennai and Afghanistan by eight wickets in New Delhi. It was a dominant batting display headlined by skipper Rohit Sharma’s record-extending seventh Cricket World Cup century. Pakistan, on the other hand, played their opening fixtures in Hyderabad, beating the Netherlands by 81 runs and Sri Lanka by six wickets, thanks to a record batting chase under lights.
In their head-to-head World Cup clashes, Pakistan has never beaten India. Even when Pakistan won its only title in 1992 it lost to India in Sydney. The trend continued in 1996, 1999, 2003, 2011, 2015 and 2019. The 7-0 scoreline is a huge topic of contention among the rival fans. In fact, in their latest meeting, at the Asia Cup, India thumped Pakistan last month.
IND-PAK Playing XIs:
India: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
Pakistan: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (C), Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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