AHMEDABAD (Gujarat): Indian skipper Rohit Sharma on Friday ruled out that toss would be a “massive factor” in their upcoming blockbuster World Cup clash against Pakistan on Saturday at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
A lot of speculation has been building around India’s playing XI and the decision that they should opt for if they win the toss against its arch-rival.
Rohit ruled out that toss will be a factor against Pakistan and the decision will be based on what the entire team is comfortable with.
“Honestly, I don’t know how much of a factor it is going to be, because in Delhi, we were expecting dew to come in. It didn’t come. Chennai also, it was after probably 30 overs. So, you are done with 75 per cent of the game by then,” said the Indian skipper.
“I don’t think toss is going to play a massive factor it is what the team is comfortable doing with. It is chasing first posting a total whatever it is we will try to do whatever the team is comfortable doing,” Rohit said in the pre-match press conference.
The second question that has been the talk of the town is whether India will once again name three spinners in their squad.
India named Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja in the playing XI leaving all-rounder Shardul Thakur out of the mix in their campaign opener against Australia in Chennai.
However, in the second game against Afghanistan in Delhi, India left Ashwin out of the starting XI and brought in Shardul.
Rohit talked about the changes in the squad and said, “I don’t know I still haven’t looked at the pitch yet but we are ready to play whatever combination we want to play that’s the challenge going forward for us as a team depending on what kind of condition we want to play if there is a change or two we need to make, we will be ready for that.”
“The guys have already been informed about these kinds of changes so I don’t think it is going to be an issue for the players but if the requirement is there for us to play three spinners we will do that,” Rohit added.
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav.
Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Wasim. (ANI)