Asia Cup 2025 Final: Ind vs Pak predicted XI

Forty-one years have passed since the first Asia Cup in 1984, and India and Pakistan have finally made it to the summit clash together. They have played each other twice along the way, with India winning both contests comfortably, but the cricket has been overshadowed by a lack of handshakes, angry verbals, and provocative gestures that are rooted in the military conflict between the two nations earlier this year.

It's clear Sunday's final isn't just another India vs Pakistan match. There are massive political undercurrents that both sets of players have had to wade through, which have created plenty of controversy. India sticking by their government's advice and refusing to shake hands with Pakistan was the start, and it has snowballed into multiple ICC hearings and financial penalties on both sides.

Despite a thrilling Super Over win against Sri Lanka in their previous Super Four match, Team India are expected to make a couple of changes to their playing XI for the final against Pakistan. In particular, pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is expected to return to the lineup.

India (likely): 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Sanju Samson (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya/Arshdeep Singh, 7 Shivam Dube, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

With Pakistan keen on power hitting through the middle overs, there has been some speculation that Hasan Nawaz could make a return after missing the last three games. However, with quality spin, like India's, his Achilles heel, they are likely to stick with their combination over the Super Four stage, and go in unchanged.

Pakistan (likely): 1 Sahibzada Farhan, 2 Fakhar Zaman, 3 Saim Ayub, 4 Hussain Talat, 5 Mohammad Nawaz, 6 Salman Agha (capt), 7 Faheem Ashraf, 8 Mohammad Haris (wk), 9 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Abrar Ahmed