According to a source close to the Pakistan team, head coach Mike Hesson and captain Salman Ali Agha are keen to field specialist spinners Abrar Ahmed and Usman Tariq and two specialist fast bowlers like Shaheen Shah Afridi and Salman Mirza. In that case, a star all-rounder can come down the ladder of elimination The team management may take a tough decision to drop an all-rounder from among Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz and Faheem Ashraf.

“The only problem for the team management is: if they field four specialist bowlers, they have to decide who will be out among Fahim, Shadab and Nawaz,” the source said. He said with Saeem Ayyub, Sahabzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha, Babar Azam and Usman Khan occupying the top five positions, the team management will have to decide who to play at number six and seven, followed by four bowlers.

Sources said Nawaz is likely to be left out as he is a left-arm spinner and India has left-handed batsmen like Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Verma, Shivam Dubey, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Akshar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Arshdeep Singh.

Not only did the source reveal which players will play, but also the number of players picked, he said, “Faheem is smart to play as he is in good batting form and will be the third pacer if needed and Shadab whose leg spin will be useful against southpaw batsmen.” He added that with Abrar, Usman, Shadab and Saeem Ayyub as spin options, the team management is confident that they can manage the game without Nawaz in the high profile India vs Pakistan match.

However, he insists that the Pak think tank may change the decision after taking a final look at the pitch at the Premadasa Stadium on Sunday and seeing what the weather holds.