Toss India chose to bowl v Pakistan
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
02:05
‘Anything is possible with Pakistan’
India captain Virat Kohli won the toss and chose to bowl first in the Champions Trophy final, expecting there to be something in the pitch for bowlers early in the game, but also citing a preference to chase.
Sarfraz Ahmed said he would have bowled first as well. Each of Pakistan’s three wins in the tournament have come when batting second.
Both teams picked largely predictable XIs. R Ashwin recovered sufficiently from a sore muscle in his right leg to be available for this match, and he played ahead of seamer Umesh Yadav, who had taken 3 for 30 in the first match against Pakistan. Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ravindra Jadeja were the other frontline bowlers, with allrounders Hardik Pandya and Kedar Jadhav also in the XI.
Pakistan, meanwhile, saw Mohammad Amir return after he had missed the semi-final following a back spasm. Amir’s return displaced Rumman Raees from the XI. Hasan Ali, Junaid Khan, and spinners Shadab Khan and Imad Wasim made up the remainder of the frontline attack.
The toss was carried out in sunshine at The Oval. The weather is expected to remain dry for the duration of the game, and temperatures are expected to be in the high 20s.
India 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 MS Dhoni (wk), 6 Kedar Jadhav, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 R Ashwin, 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
Pakistan 1 Azhar Ali, 2 Fakhar Zaman, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Mohammad Hafeez, 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Sarfraz Ahmed (capt, wk), 7 Imad Wasim, 8 Mohammad Amir, 9 Shadab Khan, 10 Junaid Khan, 11 Hasan Ali
Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo’s Sri Lanka correspondent. @andrewffernando
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo