Follow UsIndia made an excellent start to their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign as they have Bangladesh on the mat, having picked up three wickets in the first over in Dubai.
Things got better from there as Axar Patel, bowling his first over of the match, picked up two wickets in as many deliveries to send Tanzid Hasan (25) and Mushfiqur Rahim (0) back into the pavilion - both caught behind.
Facing the hat-trick ball was Jaker Ali. Rohit Sharma had two slips and a leg slip waiting for the hat-trick delivery. Everything was set up perfectly.
Axar bowled a flighted delivery just outside off. It moved slightly away - good enough to take the edge. It should have been a regulation catch for Rohit, but he put it down to leave everyone speechless.
Axar would have been just the second player to take a hat-trick in the Champions Trophy after West Indies' Jerome Taylor in 2006. He also would have been the fifth Indian bowler after Chetan Sharma, Kapil Dev, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Shami to take a hat-trick in ODIs.
He gave away just one run in the over, but a hat-trick would have certainly been the icing on the cake for the left-arm spinner.