WATCH: Hardik Pandya gives Babar Azam a send-off after dismissing him in Dubai

Hardik Pandya managed to dismiss Babar Azam with a very good ball after he was off to a good start against India in Dubai.

WATCH: Hardik Pandya gives Babar Azam a send-off after dismissing him in Dubai

Hardik Pandya, Babar Azam (Via X)

India is facing off against Pakistan in the all-important match in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. It’s a must-win match for the Men in Green, given that they are coming to this game on the back of a loss against New Zealand in the opening match. The Men in Blue, on the other hand, had won their opening match against Bangladesh.

Pakistan captain Muhammad Rizwan won the toss and elected to bat first to put pressure on India. After Fakhar Zaman was ruled out with injury for the rest of the tournament, Imam-ul-Haq was drafted into the squad and opened the innings with Babar Azam in the match.

The pair gave a good start to the Men in Green, and Azam was looking in good touch today. He was taking the aggressive route and also playing some sumptuous cover drives. However, Hardik Pandya halted the momentum by picking the wicket of Azam. He was dismissed for 23 runs off 26 deliveries.

On the second ball of the ninth over, Pandya dragged back his length and bowled on the good length to entice Babar on the drive. It was not there to play the drive, but the Pakistani star got lured into the shot, the ball left him, took the outside edge of his bat, and was grabbed safely by KL Rahul. Pandya gave him a send-off to celebrate the first wicket.

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PAK vs IND: There were a lot of talks about India’s travel to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025

Before the tournament started, there was a clash between BCCI and PCB regarding BCCI’s stance of not sending the Indian Cricket Team to Pakistan for the tournament. BCCI did not receive the clearance to send the Men in Blue to Pakistan for security reasons. However, Pakistan was also not giving up, as they were adamant about hosting the full tournament on their soil.

Muhammad Rizwan, Rohit Sharma
Muhammad Rizwan, Rohit Sharma (Via X)

At last, it was decided that India would play all their matches in Dubai, and PCB accepted it on the condition that the same would be followed with their team in the ICC tournaments hosted by India. So, the former Pakistan cricketers were very much up for this game and had placed their hopes on their team to beat India in Dubai.

Pakistan got their only win in the World Cups against India in this venue during the 2021 T20 edition, when they beat India by 10 wickets. However, they are coming to this game under a lot of pressure from the opening match, given how they played.