Pakistan captain Salman Agha has won the toss and elected to bat against India in Dubai in their Group A match on Sunday.
Pakistan playing with four spinners just like in the opening match against Oman.
Kuldeep and Varun will be crucial to India's chances on this dry track.
Welcome to the updates of the Asia Cup match against India and Pakistan in their Group A encounter in Dubai on Sunday.
As Suryakumar Yadav's band of men prepare to take on Salman Agha's slightly inexperienced squad in the Asia Cup Group A encounter in Dubai on Sunday, the excitement is less than palpable.
Slogans of 'Boycott Asia Cup' have flooded social media and Opposition political parties have questioned the government's nod for the game, even as the wounds of the Pahalgam terrorist attack are yet to heal.
Ahead of the match, a spoilt-for-choice India will be favourites by a mile against arch-rivals Pakistan.
There is no dearth of context in the contest with a T20 World Cup set to be played in India in four months' time. But, for the first time in many years, a cricket match between India and Pakistan, that too scheduled on a Sunday, lacks the kind of high-pitched narrative that always comes with the territory.
There are batters like Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Abhishek Sharma, a pacer like Jasprit Bumrah, spinners of Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy's calibre in the Indian playing eleven. The Indians look way more menacing on paper compared to Pakistan, who are trying to find their feet under new skipper Salman Ali Agha.
However, considering the fickle nature of the format, there is always the chance of an upset, though against this Indian team the probability remains low.
One of the most talented batters in Pakistan's line-up, opener Saim Ayub, middle-order willow-wielder Hasan Nawaz and the troika of spinners in Abrar Ahmed, Sufiyan Muqeen and Mohammed Nawaz would love to prove a point in a new look team that dumped the philosophy of depending heavily on Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan.
The terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam that killed 26 tourists began the most recent worsening of relations between the two countries.
The ensuing military operation and public anger have played a role in the very muted build-up to the most high-profile match of the continental cricketing showpiece.
With thousands of tickets still available, and very few fans turning up at the India practice session on Friday, the festive excitement surrounding the match is missing.
The social media calls for a boycott by India has found resonance to an extent and, as a result, no one knows how many BCCI officials, who otherwise make a beeline during marquee events, will turn up on Sunday.
The Government of India has allowed national team's matches against the bitter rivals at multi-nation tournaments, but not at the bilateral level.
The travelling media is also aiming to spice up things, but, predictably, representatives of both nations have dead batted any probing queries which even remotely touch on politics.
Normally, an Indo-Pak match has been about Indian batters locking horns with Pakistani pacers, but this time around the spinners of both sides will have a significant role to play considering that Jasprit Bumrah and Shaheen Shah Afridi are the only specialist pacers who will be seen in action on Sunday.
Although the pitch isn't offering significant turn, the presence of one right-arm wrist spinner and one left-arm wrist spinner each in both sides makes for a fascinating sub-plot.
Sufiyan Muqeem is a good bowler but nowhere close to a much craftier Kuldeep Yadav, whose googly has been unplayable from the hand.
Abrar Ahmed's leg-breaks and quirky celebrations have gained him a lot of fans across Pakistan, but Varun Chakravarthy, with an element of mystery attached to his art form, can mess with minds of Pakistani batters.
He could especially be tough for young guns like Saim Ayub, Shahibzad Farhan, who aren't reading spinners from their hands.
Last but not the least, Mohammed Nawaz, the left-arm spinner, ranked 30th in actual ICC rankings but at the zenith according to his coach, Mike Hesson, isn't a patch on Axar Patel, the most valuable yet low profile player in the Indian line-up.
More than bowling, it is the batting line-up of India that will make Pakistan anxious.
Gill, Abhishek, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, and Shivam Dube can butcher any bowling attack on their day.
When it comes to all-rounders -- Faheem Ashraf is not comparable to Hardik in terms of match-winning ability.
These are players, who can take pitch out of the equation at any given point of time.
If India are wary of any one particular bowler in the Pakistan line-up, then it has to be Shaheen, who has fond memories at this ground in 2021. He dismissed KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and some overs later Virat Kohli to set up a nice T20 World Cup group league win for his country.
But post knee surgery, Shaheen hasn't been half the bowler he was and the late swing and off the pitch movement has gone missing.
The key for India will be to figure the ideal batting line-up. Samson's slot will be vital and so will be that of Dube, whose assigned task will be to take down the spinners in the middle overs.
The noise may be absent, but the stakes remain high. Because when India and Pakistan take the field, hype or no hype, the world stops to watch.
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