Babar Azam Explains Reason Behind Naming Pakistan Playing XI In Advance

As Pakistan skipper Babar Azam won the toss on Wednesday, it was already known what the team's playing XI would be in the Asia Cup opener against Nepal. The Pakistan team had announced the playing XI a day in advance. After winning the toss, Babar revealed exactly why the team management decided to name the playing XI beforehand. Pakistan picked three mainstream pacers in the team, in the form of Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Haris Rauf while Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan were the spinners.

"We will bat first, pitch looks very dry and shiny. No reason to name the XI earlier, we wanted to give confidence to our team. To be honest, being the top-ranked team brings a good kind of pressure, we'll try to enjoy and do our best," Babar said at the time of toss.

Nepal captain Rohit Paudel, on the other hand, was understandably elated to be playing the Asia Cup for the first time ever.

"Everyone is very happy, it is our first game in the Asia Cup. Everyone in Nepal is really excited for this game. Most of the things here are very similar to Nepal, looks like a beautiful wicket to bat on," he said after the toss.

Pakistan Playing XI:Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (w), Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf.

Nepal Playing XI: Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh (w), Rohit Paudel (c), Aarif Sheikh, Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Gulsan Jha, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane, Lalit Rajbanshi.