Champions Trophy: Kuldeep and Hardik shine as India bowl out Pakistan for 241
Dubai, Feb 23 (IANS) Kuldeep Yadav shined in the back-end to take 3-40, while Hardik Pandya bowled brilliantly to pick 2-31 as an impressive bowling performance propelled India to bowl out Pakistan for 241 in 49.4 overs in the high-stakes 2025 Champions Trophy game at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.
On a slow pitch, electing to bat first, Pakistan’s batters got starts but couldn’t score quickly, with a 104-run stand between Saud Shakeel (62) and Mohammad Rizwan (46) being the only prominent feature of their innings, though it came at a snail’s pace. From 151-2, Pakistan looked prime to go beyond 250, but India triggered a batting meltdown to bowl them out for 241.
Apart from Kuldeep and Hardik, Harshit Rana, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel took a wicket each, as India picked wickets in heaps, including in the middle overs, for the first time in the competition, though they gave away 17 extras.
India didn’t have the best of starts to their innings with the ball, as Mohammed Shami bowled a wayward 11-ball first over, including conceding five wides. After Babar Azam took two fours via flick and cover drive, Shami experienced trouble in his right shin mid-way in his third over and called the physio for treatment.
Immediately after his over was done, Shami walked off the field, leaving the onus of building pressure on rest of bowling line-up. Hardik eventually provided the first breakthrough for India by dragging his length back and bowling outside off-stump to have Azam nicking behind to keeper KL Rahul, who moved low to his right to complete the catch.
Imam-ul-Haq, playing in an ODI for the first time since 2023 ODI World Cup, was scratchy in his innings, and was run-out for 10 off 26 balls when Axar fired in a direct hit from mid-on and find him well short of the crease despite the opener putting in a desperate dive.
In between, Shami came back and looked much sharper, as India squeezed the pressure on Pakistan by conceding only one boundary in overs 11-20, which yielded only 27 runs. With the pitch showing signs of gripping, it aided in India’s task of keeping Rizwan and Shakeel on a tight leash.
But from the half-way mark, Pakistan began to show some spunk as Rizwan swept Jadeja through square leg for four, before Shakeel brought out the reverse-sweep and sweep against Kuldeep to collect a brace of boundaries. The duo took a boundary each off Jadeja again, before Shakeel got his fourth ODI fifty in 69 balls.
Pakistan upping the ante meant India’s quest of dislodging them came under pressure, which reflected in them missing a direct hit to have Shakeel run-out, followed by Rana dropping a tough running catch at mid-wicket, giving Rizwan a life on 44. But Axar ensured Rana’s drop of Rizwan wasn’t a costly one as he castled the Pakistan captain on 46.
India could have got Shakeel out in the same over if Kuldeep had not shelled a chance at wide long-on. But it again did not cost India much as Hardik took the pace off from a short ball and had Shakeel pulling straight to deep mid-wicket. One brought two for India as Tayyab Tahir was castled by Jadeja, as Pakistan lost three wickets for 11 runs between 34th and 37th overs.
After that, Pakistan’s slide continued as Kuldeep had Salman Ali Agha caught at cover point and trapped Shaheen Shah Afridi plumb lbw on consecutive googlies, before having Naseem Shah chipping to long-on. Khushdil Shah and Haris Rauf took a six each off Shami, before the duo were out in quick succession as Pakistan would feel they have made enough on a pitch which could become sluggish later on in the match.
Brief Scores: Pakistan 241 all out in 49.4 overs (Saud Shakeel 62, Mohammad Rizwan 46; Kuldeep Yadav 3-40, Hardik Pandya 2-31) against India
