Virat Kohli and Babar Azam greet each other at the start of IND vs PAK 2025 Champions Trophy match [Watch]

Virat Kohli and Babar Azam were seen sharing a side hug on the field when the latter walked out to bat. Team India and Pakistan are facing off at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday, February 23, in both teams’ respective second matches of the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

The arch-rivals are drawn in Group A and are hence squaring off in their second group-stage match. Winning the toss, Pakistan skipper Mohammad Rizwan opted to bat, as Imam-ul-Haq and Azam walked out to open the innings.

As Imam took his stance at the striker's end, Virat Kohli was seen greeting Babar Azam at the other end, as the duo shared a warm moment.

Watch here:

India won their first match of the tournament against Bangladesh by six wickets, and have two points to their name. Pakistan, on the other hand, lost their campaign opener against New Zealand by 60 runs and are looking to open their account tonight.

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India remain unchanged, Pakistan make one forced change to their playing XI

Ahead of the all-important clash against India, Fakhar Zaman was ruled out owing to an injury he sustained during the team’s opening match against New Zealand. With that, Pakistan had to make a forceful change to their playing XI, with Imam-ul-Haq replacing Fakhar.

Team India, who are coming on the back of a win, made no changes as skipper Rohit Sharma said that they were going with the same combination. Mohammed Shami and Harshit Rana are the specialist seamers along with Hardik Pandya as an all-rounder. Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Kuldeep Yadav are the three spinners in the side.

India's Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, and Kuldeep Yadav.

Pakistan's Playing XI: Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (c & wk), Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, and Abrar Ahmed.