Mohammed Shami leaks 5 wides in 11-ball first over, leaves field due to pain but thankfully returns after injury scare

Team India suffered a major injury scare during the highly anticipated Champions Trophy clash against arch-rivals Pakistan. Senior pacer Mohammed Shami found some discomfort in his right ankle and left the field inside the first powerplay to get medical attention but later returned. A team member checks the leg of India's Mohammed Shami (C) as his team captain Rohit Sharma watches during the ICC Champions Trophy ODI match between India and Pakistan.(AFP)

It was the fifth over of the match when Shami struggled with pain in his right ankle. The physio came out in the middle and checked on him.

After the brief medical check-up, Shami bowled the last two balls of the over to complete his over. However, after completing his over, he left the field to get some additional check-ups as Washington Sundar replaced him on the field.

However, he returned to the field after the 8th over, which was a sigh of relief for the Indian team, which is travelling with just three frontline pacers in the squad.

Shami didn't have the best start to the match as he struggled to get his line and length right and bowled five wides in the first over he bowled. He was managing to get some swing from the surface but he failed to control it and ended up leaking extras in the first over of the match which lasted for 11 balls.

Skipper Rohit Sharma went with Hardik Pandya as the first change in the bowling after Shami was forced to leave the field due to an ankle injury. The seasoned pacer recently made his comeback to the Indian team with the England series after recovering from a back injury. He had to prove his match fitness in domestic cricket to get a call-up in the Indian team after more than a year.

He had a great start to the Champions Trophy 2025 and claimed a five-wicket haul against Bangladesh in India's opening match.

Pakistan bat first against unchanged India

Earlier, Pakistan skipper Mohammed Rizwan won the toss and elected to bat first. Rohit lost his 12th consecutive toss in a row but was confident about chasing the total in Dubai.

“Doesn't really matter, they won the toss so we'll bowl first. Looks similar to the last game, the surface is on the slower side. We have an experienced unit in batting so we know what we need to do if the pitches get slower. Need an overall performance from the team - with bat and ball. The last game wasn't an easy one for us, which is always nice. You want to be under pressure and test yourself,” Rohit said at the toss.

Pakistan made one change to their XI from the last match as Imam-ul-Haq came in for injured Fakhar Zaman, who has been ruled out of the tournament. On the other hand, India decided to go with the unchanged XI from the last match to continue the winning combination.

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