Champions Trophy: Axar Patel misses hat-trick after Rohit Sharma drops a sitter in the slips

Miss proves costly. Bangladesh batters pile on runs

BCCI shares images of the Indian team after back-to-back wickets by Axar Patel. Patel missed a hattrick due to a catch missed by Rohit Sharma | X/@BCCI

New Delhi: Axar Patel narrowly missed a hat-trick in India’s opening ICC Champions Trophy 2025 match against Bangladesh in Dubai on Thursday.

Patel claimed the wickets of Tanzid Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim with the second and third deliveries of the ninth over. However, a dropped catch by skipper Rohit Sharma in the slips denied him a hat-trick.

Tanzid ☝️
Mushfiqur☝️
Hattrick… Well, almost! 😮

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— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) February 20, 2025

Sharma looked stunned after dropping Jaker Ali’s straightforward catch, aware of its significance for the team and Axar’s deserving reward for an excellent over, prompting him to slam his hand on the ground in frustration and apologise to Axar, who responded with a wry smile.

The reaction of Rohit Sharma after dropping the catch. pic.twitter.com/oCgydGjPoq

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) February 20, 2025

Axar Patel’s double strike left Bangladesh reeling at 35/5. The dropped catch proved costly, resulting in an unbroken, over 100-run partnership between Ali and Towhid Hridoy for the sixth wicket.

Mohammed Shami and Harshit Rana shared the first three wickets. Bangladesh had earlier taken a bold decision to bat first on a Dubai pitch where teams chasing have traditionally held the advantage, with 34 wins compared to 22 wins for teams batting first.

(Edited by Sudha V)