India bowl against Pakistan in Champions Trophy final

London: India captain Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to field against arch-rivals Pakistan in the Champions Trophy final at The Oval on Sunday.

Title-holders India boast a powerful top order including star batsman Kohli but the skipper, explaining his decision to field at a sun-drenched Oval, said: "We will try and exploit the even grass and it is better to bowl first."

India's lone loss so far in this tournament, featuring the world's top eight one-day international nations, was at The Oval when they suffered a surprise seven-wicket defeat by Sri Lanka on June 8.

"We have played here before, one more effort to go and I'm sure the guys will give it our best shot," added Kohli.

"We don't take any opposition for granted and we are looking to play some great cricket here. Hopefully we can have a good performance."

India, who launched their title-defence with a 124-run thrashing of Pakistan, were unchanged from the side that hammered Bangladesh by nine wickets in Thursday's semi-final at Birmingham's Edgbaston.

But Pakistan made one change, with the fit-again Mohammad Amir returning from the back spasm that saw him mis Wednesday's impressive eight-wicket semi-final win over previously unbeaten tournament hosts England in Cardiff.

Amir replaced fellow left-arm quick Rumman Raees, who took two wickets against England on his ODI debut.

This was the first time Pakistan had batted first in the tournament and captain Sarfraz Ahmed said: "We will hope to score 300 plus runs."

Pakistan have lost all three of their previous matches against India in the knockout stages of International Cricket Council events but Sarfraz said: "I am proud of my boys: we were ranked number eight and today, we have nothing to lose."

Before the national anthems were played, a capacity crowd observed a minute's silence in memory of the victims of recent terror attacks in Britain and the Grenfell tower block fire in London.

Teams

India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (capt), Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (wkt), Hardik Pandya, Kedhar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah

Pakistan: Azhar Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (capt/wkt), Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Junaid Khan

Umpires: Marais Erasmus (RSA), Richard Kettleborough (ENG)

TV umpire: Rod Tucker (AUS)

Match referee: David Boon (AUS)