Watch: Rohit Sharma drops hat-trick catch, apologizes to Axar Patel and explodes in anger

A golden opportunity to take a hat trick slipped right through Axar Patel’s hands, all thanks to Rohit Sharma’s lapse in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy 2025 clash between India and Bangladesh at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai on February 20.

After dismissing Tanzid Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim in the eighth over, Axar Patel created the chance to take his hat trick in his maiden ICC Champions Trophy match, but Rohit Sharma dropped a straightforward catch to let his spinner downhearted on Thursday.

Watch: Axar Patel’s hat-trick chance ruined as Rohit Sharma drops a sitter

On the fourth ball of the ninth over, Axar Patel almost pulled off a historic moment for himself, but Rohit Sharma let it slip. The Indian all-rounder got Jaker Ali to edge one straight to the first slip, but the Indian skipper fumbled and dropped a simple catch.

Read Also: Watch: Rohit Sharma & Shikhar Dhawan reunite in Dubai, share heartwarming & fun moment

Rohit was furious and frustrated with himself as he hit the ground multiple times in anger, knowing he had just denied Axar a hat trick. After realizing his mistake, Rohit quickly apologized to Patel.

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Earlier, Axar Patel made an instant impact in the ninth over, as he sent Tanzid Hasan back to the pavilion in his very first over in the match. Axar delivered a flat delivery outside off that tempted Tanzid Hasan to go for a shot, but his angled bat only managed a thick edge.

Mushfiqur Rahim and Tanzid Hasan become Axar Patel's victim in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 clash

KL Rahul grabbed it safely behind the stumps and threw the ball up in celebration. However, the Indian spinner was not sure, and even the on-field umpire Paul Reiffel took a moment before raising his finger. However, Tanzid and Towhid Hridoy decided to challenge the decision, but time for review ran out. Later, an Ultra-edge confirmed the edge, and Tanzid had to go after scoring 25 off 25 balls against India.

In the next ball, Axar sent Mushfiqur Rahim packing for a golden duck and the Indian cricket team erupted in celebration as they got back-to-back wickets in the ongoing clash. The left-arm spinner delivered a well-flighted ball at 90.7kph and Mushfiqur stepped forward to defend.

Read Also: Watch: Virat Kohli erupts in anger as KL Rahul misses easy stumping vs BAN in CT 2025

But the ball grips, spins away slightly, and kisses the shoulder of his bat before landing safely in KL Rahul’s gloves. It was a dream start for Axar in his maiden ICC Champions Trophy campaign. However, the all-rounder had a chance for a hat-trick, but Rohit’s error didn’t let that happen.

Rohit Sharma opens up on India’s spin-allrounder strategy

Meanwhile, before this match, Rohit Sharma had revealed why India always love to play Axar, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar in the same XI. The skipper said that all-round abilities of Jadeja, Axar and Sundar add a different dimension and a lot of depth to the combination.

Rohit had said at the pre-match press conference: “There are two spinners, the other three are all-rounders. I am not looking at them as five spinners. Those three guys can bat and can bowl as well. The other teams have fast bowlers and all-rounders. They say that they have six fast bowlers, which is good. But we work on our strength and try to run the team on that.”

The skipper further added, “Those three guys, Jadeja, Axar, Washi [Washington Sundar], give us a different dimension to the game, to our combination, to our squad. And they add a lot to this team and give us a lot of depth. That is why we wanted to get the players who can have two skills rather than one skill.”