Asia Cup: Rauf, Shah In For Pakistan As UAE Elect To Field In Must-win Match

Asia Cup: Rauf, Shah in for Pakistan as UAE elect to field in must-win match (Image Source: IANS)

The United Arab Emirates: The United Arab Emirates won the toss and elected to field first against Pakistan in match 10 of group A of Asia Cup 2025 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Both teams have made a few changes. As for Pakistan, Haris Rauf replaces Sufiyan Muqeem, and Khushdil Shah comes in for Faheem Ashraf.

For the UAE, Simranjeet Singh comes in for Muhammad Jawadullah.

UAE captain Muhammad Waseem said, "We will bowl first. Nothing special. I think dew will play a role. It is a do-or-die game for both. We will try to restrict them to a low total. We had a good game in Abu Dhabi. We came up with a different plan today. Jawadullah out, Simranjeet in.”

Pakistan captain Agha Salman said, “We wanted to bat first, to be honest. It is not about the edge. The UAE are a very good team. We need to execute our plans for a longer time. We have two changes. Sufiyan is not playing. Haris Rauf has come in. Khushdil Shah is also in for Faheem Ashraf.”

Earlier, the toss was delayed by an hour, with the match now set to begin at 7:30 PM local time (9:00 PM IST).

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chair Mohsin Naqvi later wrote on social media: “We have asked the Pakistan team to depart for the Dubai Cricket Stadium. Further details to follow.”

The PCB had earlier stopped the team from leaving for the stadium, leading to reports that it had withdrawn the team from the Asia Cup, alleging inaction and bias by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after the Indian players refused to shake hands with their opponents after their league match.

Ahead of the toss, the Pakistan Cricket Board issued a statement, and as quoted by ESPNCricinfo, it read, "The ICC's match referee, Andy Pycroft, has apologised to the manager and captain of the Pakistan cricket team.

"Andy Pycroft had barred the captains of India and Pakistan from shaking hands during their match. The Pakistan Cricket Board had strongly reacted to Andy Pycroft's actions.

"Andy Pycroft termed the September 14 incident a result of miscommunication and apologised.

"The ICC has expressed its willingness to conduct an inquiry into the code of conduct violation that occurred during the September 14 match.”

Playing XIs:

"The ICC has expressed its willingness to conduct an inquiry into the code of conduct violation that occurred during the September 14 match.”

Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Mohammad Haris (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Salman Ali Agha (c), Khushdil Shah, Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf

Article Source: IANS