WATCH: Virat Kohli takes a sensational high catch to give Mohammed Shami his 200th ODI wicket

Virat Kohli judged a high catch to perfection and took it to dismiss Jaker Ali; and Mohammed Shami scalped his 200th ODI wicket.

WATCH: Virat Kohli takes a sensational high catch to give Mohammed Shami his 200th ODI wicket

Mohammed Shami picked up his 200th wicket (via Icecric news and X)

The Indian Cricket Team kicked off their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign with their opening match against Bangladesh at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto won the toss and elected to bat first.

Despite early breakthroughs, there were a series of sloppy fielding and catch drops. Axar Patel was on a hat trick in the ninth over of the innings and induced an edge off Jaker Ali on the very first ball, but captain Rohit Sharma dropped the catch in the slips. Hardik Pandya then dropped Towhid Hridoy on the 20th over of the innings off the bowling of Kuldeep Yadav.

Both these batters resurrected their team’s tumbling innings and stitched together a partnership of more than 100 runs by making use of the dropped catches. However, Mohammed Shami finally dismissed Ali in the 43rd over of the innings. He bowled a slower ball way outside the off stump, and Ali tried to fetch it from outside the off stump.

The ball went very high up in the air as it hit the toe end of the bat, and Virat Kohli had his eyes fixated on the ball and took the catch safely under the sun. Ali was finally dismissed for 68 runs off 114 balls.

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India decided to go in with two pacers and three spinners in the first match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025

Team India have five spinners in their squad and they picked three of them in their line-up today in the form of Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Kuldeep Yadav. Patel and Jadeja were the all-rounders in the lineup. They picked Harshit Rana and Shami as the two frontline pacers, with Hardik Pandya being the seam-bowling all-rounder.

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India will definitely feel the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, who has been ruled out of the tournament with an injury. He has been the best bowler in the world across formats for quite some time and played an integral part in India winning the T20 World Cup in 2024.

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The Men In Blue will next be playing against Pakistan on February 23 and New Zealand on March 2. They will be playing all their matches in Dubai given that they were not given the clearance from the Indian government and the BCCI to travel to Pakistan for the tournament.