Gill returns as India bowl first in World Cup blockbuster

Shubman Gill – the world's leading batter in one-day internationals this year – has returned to India's line up after overcoming illness for their blockbuster World Cup clash with Pakistan at the world's biggest cricket ground.

India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad and opted to send Pakistan in with a crowd of more than 100,000 expected.

India XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj

 

Pakistan XI: Imam ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf

Both sides remain undefeated after their first two games of the tournament with Gill replacing Ishan Kishan the only change for India, while Pakistan will go in with the same XI that peeled off a record World Cup run chase of 4-345 in their last match against Sri Lanka.

"Unfortunate for Ishan that he has to miss out, I feel for him," Rohit said at the toss.

"(He had) to step up when the team needed him to step up and he has done that brilliantly for us.

"But Gill has been a super player for us over the last year or so; the amount of runs he's scored and the form he's show, especially in this ground here.

"So we wanted him to be back as soon as possible."

Pakistan have never beaten India in the 50-over World Cup in seven meetings since they first met in the tournament in Australia in 1992. India also recorded a thumping 228-run win in the two sides' most recent meeting during the Super Four stage of last month's Asia Cup.

"We had a good first two games and our momentum and confidence is very high," Pakistan captain Babar Azam said after revealing he would have also bowled first.

"A jam-packed stadium, we will enjoy this opportunity and give 100 per cent in this match."

With both sides level on four points, a win could take either team to the top of the World Cup standings if they are able to improve their net run-rate above New Zealand's 1.604.

2023 World Cup standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Total points PTS
1 India Men IND	9	9	0	0	0	2.57	0	18
2 South Africa Men SA	9	7	2	0	0	1.261	0	14
3 Australia Men AUS	9	7	2	0	0	0.841	0	14
4 New Zealand Men NZ	9	5	4	0	0	0.743	0	10
5 Pakistan Men PAK	9	4	5	0	0	-0.199	0	8
6 Afghanistan Men AFG	9	4	5	0	0	-0.336	0	8
7 England Men ENG	9	3	6	0	0	-0.572	0	6
8 Bangladesh Men BAN	9	2	7	0	0	-1.087	0	4
9 Sri Lanka Men SL	9	2	7	0	0	-1.419	0	4
10 Netherlands Men NED	9	2	7	0	0	-1.825	0	4

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

PTS: Total points