Why Hardik Pandya is not playing the Asia Cup 2025 final between India and Pakistan? Final playing XI and team changes
India and Pakistan face off in historic Asia Cup 2025 final, but they lose key player Hardik Pandya. There are a couple of changes in the side.
India and Pakistan are all set to take on each other in a historic clash at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in the Asia Cup 2025 final. In the 41 year history of the tournament, this is the first time that the two teams are facing each other in the summit clash.
In what comes in as a big news for the Indian fans, the star all-rounder of the team Hardik Pandya is not a part of the playing XI in the big match. Notably, the all-rounder faced problems with his left hamstring during India’s last outing against Sri Lanka. He left the ground after bowling the first over of the Lankan innings and did not return for the rest of the match.
While India’s bowling coach, Morne Morkel addressed it as cramps during the game, it turns out the matter has been a bit more serious than that. The all-rounder is missing the clash and left-handed middle order batter Rinku Singh has replaced him in the side.
Concern for India?
Hardik Pandya has not been in the best of forms in the tournament, especially with the bat. In the four innings that he has batted in the tournament, Hardik has scored 48 runs at a strike rate of 120. With the ball, however, Hardik has been one of the two pacers that India has played in most of the games. He has taken up the cherry with Jasprit Bumrah in the powerplay and in the death overs. In the six innings that he has bowled in, Hardik has picked up four wickets while maintaining an economy of around 8.57.
{{/usCountry}}Hardik Pandya has not been in the best of forms in the tournament, especially with the bat. In the four innings that he has batted in the tournament, Hardik has scored 48 runs at a strike rate of 120. With the ball, however, Hardik has been one of the two pacers that India has played in most of the games. He has taken up the cherry with Jasprit Bumrah in the powerplay and in the death overs. In the six innings that he has bowled in, Hardik has picked up four wickets while maintaining an economy of around 8.57.
{{/usCountry}}The concern is not around the current form of the star all-rounder. It is how the best of Pandya comes out in the crunch matches and especially against Pakistan. From the Asia Cup in 2022 to the iconic Melbourne match in T20 WC 2022, Hardik has stood for his team in the most pressure situations.
{{/usCountry}}The concern is not around the current form of the star all-rounder. It is how the best of Pandya comes out in the crunch matches and especially against Pakistan. From the Asia Cup in 2022 to the iconic Melbourne match in T20 WC 2022, Hardik has stood for his team in the most pressure situations.
{{/usCountry}}Even though the team might miss their star all-rounder, there is no scarcity of talent in the current Indian set-up. Head coach Gautam Gambhir, will expect the other players to stand up and accept the challenge while giving their best in the match.
India win the all important toss
India have won the toss for the final and they have opted to ball. They have one forced change in the side. Hardik Pandya is out. Besides from the last XI, Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh are also not playing. Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh and Jasprit Bumrah come into the side.
Pakistan have gone in with an unchanged XI.
India Playing XI: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah.
Pakistan Playing XI: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Salman Agha (c), Hussain Talat, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed.
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