Pakistan captain Babar Azam received a hostile reception from the Ahmedabad fans during the toss against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Saturday. India and Pakistan are playing their third match of the ICC World Cup 2023 at the Motera stadium.
Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam went for the toss and got a thunderous cheer from the capacity crowd at the world's biggest stadium. Rohit tossed the coin being the home captain and Babar called heads but the result turned in India's favour.
Shubman Gill returns as India opt to bowl
Rohit had no hesitation in opting to bowl first against Pakistan. As he walked up to speak to Ravi Shastri, the fans started cheering for the Hitman.
The noise levels went up even higher when Rohit revealed that Shubman Gill is back in the Indian playing XI. Gill had missed India's first two games against Australia and Afghanistan as he was suffering from dengue.
"We will bowl first, cannot get bigger than this, fantastic atmosphere. Sure lot of us are going to experience something really extraordinary.
"It's a good track, not going to change much, dew could be a big factor and keeping that in mind, we want to bowl first. We want to keep striving for the best, we want to come out there and give our best in every game," Rohit Sharma said after winning the toss.
It was then time for Babar Azam to have a chat with Shastri and the crowd started booing the away team skipper as soon as he started speaking.
"You very rarely see that from an Indian crowd. But obviously the nature and emotion around the ground and the dominance and prominence of the Indian fans do make it a bit more intimidating," Eoin Morgan, who is part of the commentary team, said on air.
Unchanged Pakistan XI
"We were looking to field as well. We have had good two wins. Momentum is very high and we want to continue that. Jampacked stadium, we are enjoying our opportunity, and just want to enjoy," Babar said at the toss while being booed.
Pakistan are playing with the same team which beat Sri Lanka in their last match in Hyderabad. India have just the one change in Gill, who replaces Ishan Kishan as the opener.
India vs Pakistan Playing XIs
India XI: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
Pakistan XI: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf
