Following Saud Shakeel’s fifty, Pakistan lost back-to-back wickets in the middle order during the Champions Trophy 2025 match against India on February 23.
They lost the wickets of Rizwan, Shakeel and Tayyab Tahir in the middle overs. Axar Patel who removed Rizwan for 46 runs, broke the partnership between the former and Shakeel who smashed a fifty in the match.
Hardik Pandya went on to dismiss Shakeel for 62 runs off 76 deliveries, while Jadeja picked the wicket of Tayyab Tahir for four runs.
Being in a strong position for 150 runs, Pakistan went down five for 165 runs. Meanwhile, Salman Agha and Khushdil Shah are aiming to forge a partnership in the match.
Wickets in quick succession for #TeamIndia 😎
Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja with the breakthroughs 🔥🔥
Pakistan 5⃣ down
Live ▶️ https://t.co/llR6bWyvZN#PAKvIND | #ChampionsTrophy | @hardikpandya7 | @imjadeja pic.twitter.com/xoL7JDuPS2
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 23, 2025
The clash in Dubai will be a crucial game for Pakistan who lost their first match of the 2025 Champions Trophy against New Zealand at Karachi.
On the other hand, India will play their second game of the edition with much confidence after defeating Bangladesh in Thursday’s game.
Pakistan and India have played 135 matches in ODI format. Out of those, India has won 57 matches while Pakistan has 73 wins.
After the 2017 Champions Trophy, India and Pakistan have played 6 ODIs, of which India has an advantage of 5 wins and 1 ended with no result.
Aiming for a solid start, Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq had a decent start before Hardik Pandya picked the wicket of the former for 23 runs.
During the 9th over of the match, Babar pushes at it thinking the cover drive was on, and gets an edge that KL Rahul pouches by getting low to his right.
In the very next over, Axar Patel picked the wicket of Imam-ul-Haq on a run out. Taking off for the single Axar charges in and hits the stumps directly.
