Dubai: India's pace spearhead Mohammed Shami picked up an ankle injury scare as he went off the field after the fifth over of the highly anticipated clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy at Dubai Cricket Stadium here on Sunday, February 23, 2025.
Shami looked a bit off-colour as he bowled five wide balls in the opening over of the match itself. Despite him conceding five wides, he gave away a total of six runs in the first over. Five wides by Shami in the opening over of the innings is the most in the first over of an innings in the Champions Trophy behind seven by Tinashe Panyangara against England in Birmingham in 2004.
Mohammed Shami seems to be struggling with his right leg and rhythm today. 🤯 A worrying sign for Team India! 🇮🇳👀
— wicketbuzz (@wicketbuzz) February 23, 2025
Img Credit: Getty/ Jio Hotstar#MohammedShami #PAKvIND #Dubai pic.twitter.com/iejAbT7KZ9
However, in the next two overs, he gave away just four and three runs but never looked in rhythm which he was in during the game against Bangladesh. The average speed for Shami in Sunday's game was 131.7 kph, the lowest for him in his opening spell in ODIs since 2015.
In his third over of the spell, the fifth over of the innings, Shami felt some pain in his ankle region after the fourth ball, causing the physio to come out in the middle to have a check.
After his over, Shami was off the field as suggested by the visuals on the live television, commentators and Cricbuzz live commentary. As a result, Rohit Sharma was forced to make a bowling change as Hardik Pandya came to deliver the seventh over.
Notably, Shami just recently made his return from an ankle injury that kept him away from international cricket for nearly 14 months. He featured in the white-ball series against England, playing two T20Is and ODIs each. He made his Champions Trophy debut against Bangladesh in Dubai, marking the occasion with a thunderous return to form a five-wicket haul, his fifth fifer in ICC ODI events. That fifer helped him name a few records including being the first bowler to pick a five-wicket haul in the Champions Trophy, the fastest bowler to complete 200 wickets in ODIs in terms of balls bowled, and most wickets in the ICC events by an Indian.
Meanwhile, Shami returned to the field to bowl the 12th over of the innings and bowled a decent over as his pace was up, crossing the 140 kph mark for the first time in the innings and finding a right line and length.
Playing XIs:
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav
Pakistan: Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (wk/c), Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed.
