10 September,2023 03:02 PM IST | Pallekele | mid-day online correspondent
Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (Pic: AFP)
India batter Shreyas Iyer was on Sunday ruled out of the marquee Asia Cup match against Pakistan due to a back spasm.
Iyer had made a comeback from a back surgery in India's Asia Cup opener on September 2. It was his first competitive game in close to six months.
"Shreyas Iyer had a back spasm during warm-up today," read a BCCI update.
Iyer's unavailability allowed India to accommodate a fit again K L Rahul, who last played in the IPL before undergoing a thigh surgery.
Both Iyer and Rahul have also been named in India's World Cup squad but questions marks remain over their match fitness as they are back after a long injury lay-off.
Also Read: Asia Cup: India revel in new opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill
Meanwhile, Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss and opted to bowl first against India in their Asia Cup Super 4 match on Sunday.
Pakistan are playing an unchanged side while India made two changes to the playing XI.
Apart from Iyer-Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah is back to lead the pace attack. He replaced Mohammed Shami.
Squads
India: Rohit Sharma (capt), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf
(With agency inputs)