Ind vs Ban: Axar Patel misses out on a hat-trick as Rohit Sharma dropped a simple sitter in slip

India vs Bangladesh: Rohit Sharma-led Team India began their Champions Trophy 2025 campaign with full dominance in their first game. Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first in the Dubai International Stadium. Starting from the first over by Mohammad Shami, the bowling side of the Men in Blue dominated Bangladesh. After Shami and Harshit Rana's successful first spell, the ball was handed over to Axar Patel, who in his first over gave big blows to the other side.

Axar missed hat-trick

 In his first over of the game, Axar picked back-to-back wickets of Tanzin Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim on the second and third ball respectively. Jaker Ali faced the hat-trick ball wherein he tried to play a full-length ball on the off side, following which the ball went to the first slip, Rohit Sharma. After juggling a bit, the skipper dropped the simple catch due to which Axar missed out on the hat-trick chance.

AN ALMOST HATTRICK FOR AXAR PATEL. 

- Captain Rohit Sharma straightaway apologises to Axar.#indvsban #championstrophy2025 #RohitSharma #axarpatel pic.twitter.com/dmKiZSNt1f

— Abhijeet Bandgar (@ABandgar17) February 20, 2025

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Axar Patel turns up the heat with back-to-back wickets!

Tanzid Hasan
Mushfiqur Rahim

Safe hands from KL Rahul with two sharp catches! #TeamIndia | #INDvsBAN | #ChampionsTrophy pic.twitter.com/7MekQPFJI6

— Indian Cricket Team (@incricketteam) February 20, 2025

Earlier, Shami picked Soumy Sarkar's wicket in the first over of the game. Following the same path, Harshit Rana picked Najmul Hossain Shanto's wicket the next over. At this stage, Bangladesh was 2/2 after two overs. Things didn't change much for Bangladesh as in the fifth over of the match, the batting side lost their third batter on a low score. After a change in bowling in the 9th over, Axar destroyed the middle order of the Men in Green by picking two wickets in two balls. Meanwhile, Pakistan lost the inaugural match of the Champions Trophy 2025 to New Zealand.