All-rounder Hardik Pandya is not part of India’s playing 11 for Sunday’s 2025 Asia Cup final against Pakistan at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav at the toss — which he won and opted to bowl first — said Pandya had a ‘niggle’.
Pandya seemed to have picked up an injury in the last game against Sri Lanka on Friday. He batted and scored 2 (3) in the first innings and opened the bowling in the second, taking the wicket of opener Kusal Mendis for a golden duck. However, he walked back to the dressing room immediately after finishing it and didn’t take any further part in the match, which was tied and went to the Super-Over, where the Men in Blue won.
As there were fewer than two days between that game and the final,
India opted against pre-match practice and also didn’t conduct a press conference to answer questions about Pandya’s fitness. Former India batting coach Abhishek Nayar, on the Sony Sports Network, said that his sources in the team told him that Pandya had picked up a ‘strain’ in that Sri Lanka game, which would rule him out.
Pandya was seen at the ground in the pre-match warmups, but wasn’t doing any high-intensity drills and bowling, or batting practice. This indicates that his injury is probably not serious, but enough to rule him out for a few days.
Who replaced Hardik Pandya in India’s 11?
India made wholesale changes for the final. Two of them were to bring back Jasprit Bumrah and Shivam Dube, who were rested in the previous match against Sri Lanka. They replaced Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana.
India decided to replace Pandya on the batting side and brought in Rinku Singh, a specialist batter capable of finishing matches with an ability to hit sixes and boundaries at will in death overs. The Gautam Gambhir-led management perhaps believes that Dube is good enough to bowl four overs — he did that against Pakistan in the Super-Four stage and took a couple of wickets too, but even then India had the cushion of Pandya.
If needed, the team can turn to Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma as part-time options.
