Ravi Shastri is well known for his witty quips during commentary and his hilarious punch lines have become fan favourites during high-profile cricket matches. The India vs Pakistan match at the Cricket World Cup 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday was no different as the legendary India cricketer left both skippers – Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam – amused with his boxing analogy to convey the magnitude of the event. At the beginning of the toss, Shastri introduced Rohit “from the blue corner” and Babar “from the green corner” – a terminology that is mainly to used to describe the competitors in a boxing match. The comment was met with a huge cheer from the Ahmedabad crowd and even the two captains could not stop themselves from smiling.
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Rohit won the toss and opted to field first. Shubman Gill replaced Ishan Kishan in the Indian cricket team playing XI.
India win the toss will bowl first pic.twitter.com/OFQ7pNOsyQ
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“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. Keeping the atmosphere in the team relaxed is the most important thing in a tournament like this,” Rohit said during the toss.
“Gill is back in place of Ishan, unfortunate for Ishan to miss out, feel for him, he stepped up when we needed him. Gill has been a special player for us over the past year or so, especially at this ground and we wanted him back,” the India skipper added when asked about the team composition.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam said that even they wanted to bowl first.
“We also wanted to bowl first. We have had good two wins, momentum and confidence is high. Jam-packed stadium, we will enjoy it. We want to be good in the field, we had a couple of good practice sessions. Same team for us,” Babar told Shastri following the toss.
India (Playing 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 (Playing 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
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