Watch: Hardik Pandya gives brutal 'Bye, Bye' send-off to Babar Azam during IND vs PAK CT 2025 clash

Allrounder Hardik Pandya broke a promising opening stand to dismiss Babar Azam during the high voltage clash between India and Pakistan at Dubai. Pandya was visibly ecstatic after the wicket and it was visible through his reactions.

Hardik Pandya bowled a back of a length delivery outside off stump which seamed away slightly after pitching. Babar Azam attempted a drive through the off-side but only managed an outside edge which was cleanly taken by the wicketkeeper KL Rahul.

After picking up the big wicket, Pandya gave a send-off to 'Bye Bye' send-off to Babar Azam. In the previous delivery, Babar had smashed a perfect cover drive to a fuller delivery from Pandya, leaving the bowler frustrated. However, he took the revenge by picking up the wicket off the next delivery.

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Watch: Huge blow for India! Mohammed Shami gets injured during PAK clash, leaves field

Watch: Hardik Pandya gives a 'Bye, Bye' send-off to Babar Azam

pic.twitter.com/B8GcEUc5ra

— Drizzyat12Kennyat8 (@45kennyat7PM) February 23, 2025

THE COLDEST CELEBRATIONS OF HARDIK PANDYA AFTER DISMISSING BABAR. 🥶

- Hardik, The MVP of India. 🇮🇳pic.twitter.com/bSOmGh4eA8

— Tanuj Singh (@ImTanujSingh) February 23, 2025

Babar Azam was dismissed for 23 off 26 balls. He looked in good touch during his short stay at the crease and struck 5 fours. It seemed like Babar will finally get a big score here but Pandya stood in his way.

Promising opening stand for Pakistan

Hardik Pandya has provided a no. of important breakthroughs for India during his career. He has a knack of picking up important wickets and again showed his importance in India's ODI team.

He was brought into the attack after Mohammed Shami went out of the field after injury issues. Pandya replaced Shami into the attack and didn't take too much time to pick up the first wicket of the day.

Pakistan's opening partnership yielded 41 runs for the first wicket in 8.2 overs. It was a promising partnership and seemed to take the game away from India at one stage. Shami didn't look in good touch and delivered five wides in his opening over.

He failed to control the seam movement and it was visible from his lines and lengths. He seemed in discomfort in his third over of the day and was immediately attended by the physio. After completing the over somehow, Shami went off the field.

Babar Azam's poor form continues

Hardik Pandya replaced him from the other end and picked up the wicket of Babar Azam in the ninth over of the match. It was a knock that promised a lot from Babar but he was unable to make a significant impact once again.

Babar has been going through poor form with the bat from the last few months. He was also heavily criticised after his slow knock of 64 from 90 balls in the first match against New Zealand. Pakistan expected their star batter to rise to the occasion but it wasn't his day.

In the next over, Axar Patel affected a brilliant run-out to dismiss the other opener Imam-ul-Haq. As a result, Pakistan lost two wickets in quick succession after a sedate start.