Pakistan confirm 19-year-old youngster's debut in blockbuster Asia Cup 2022 clash against India

The PCB, on their official Twitter account, confirmed the debut of Pakistan youngster an hour before the toss against India in Asia Cup 2022.

India and Pakistan lock horns in a blockbuster Sunday night clash at the men's Asia Cup 2022. Both sides had last met in the T20 World Cup last year, where Babar Azam's men had cruised to a 10-wicket victory. A lot has changed for the Indian team since – including a switch in captaincy from Virat Kohli to Rohit Sharma – among other major additions to the squad. Pakistan, meanwhile, have also grown under Babar's captaincy but endured a big setback as their star pacer Shaheen Afridi was ruled out due to a knee injury.

Babar Azam (ANI)

Earlier this week, Mohammad Wasim Jr. was also ruled out due to a back injury and Hassan Ali was brought into the squad as replacement. Merely an hour before the game, the PCB confirmed that Naseem Shah will be making his T20I debut against India. Naseem has represented Pakistan in 13 Tests and three ODIs so far.

The official Twitter account of PCB posted a video reaction of Naseem Shah as it confirmed his debut:

“I recently made my white-ball debut. Thankfully, I performed good. A debut in any format is important because you want to create impact. This will be a big game but I want to treat it as any other game and perform well,” Naseem said in the video.

“I believe in timings. I have played Tests but I hadn't gotten much opportunities in white-ball cricket. I continued on my hard-work, however, and thankfully now I will now be playing in all three formats.”

India, meanwhile, will be missing Jasprit Bumrah in the continental tournament after he was ruled out with a back injury. In his absence, India named a three-player pace attack including Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan. Additionally, Hardik Pandya has also performed fast-bowling duties for the side since his return to the national team in June earlier this year.