India National Cricket Team spin-bowling all-rounder Axar Patel has finally opened up on the massive blunder made by skipper Rohit Sharma that denied him a historic ODI hat-trick.
Axar Patel produced a hat-trick opportunity for himself in India’s ICC Champions Trophy 2025 opening match against Bangladesh National Cricket Team at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Thursday, February 20.
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Rohit Sharma drops sitter to deny Axar Patel hat-trick
Axar Patel once again looked brilliant with the ball for his team and in his 9 overs, he picked up two wickets by giving away 43 runs.
On the second ball of the 9th over, Axar dismissed Tanzid Hasan, who was caught by KL Rahul behind the stumps. Axar didn’t appeal for the catch, but KL Rahul was quite confident, and his continuous appeal forced umpire Paul Reiffel to raise the finger after a delay.
On the next ball, Axar sent Mushfiqur Rahim packing for a golden duck as Rahul took a good catch behind the wickets. Then, on the fourth ball, Axar Patel once again delivered a brilliant ball that caught the edge of Jake Ali’s bat.
The ball went flying towards Rohit Sharma at the first slip, who dropped an absolute sitter and denied the spinner a hat-trick. Rohit was furious with himself after dropping the catch and apologized to the spinner.
Axar would have become the first player to take a hat-trick on debut in ICC ODI events, and the first Indian spinner to take a hat-trick in men’s ICC events. However, he was unable to achieve these feats.
I thought I got my hat trick. It was an eventful over – Axar Patel
In an interaction with the host broadcasters during the mid-innings break Axar Patel was asked about Rohit dropping the catch on his hat-trick ball.
Axar Patel responded by saying that such things happen in cricket, and he did not react much and went back to complete his over, making it clear that he was not angry at his skipper.
“A lot happened. I didn’t know if it (Tanzid Hasan wicket) was out, but KL appealed and it was out. Then I go the second wicket. The third one, when the edge was found, I thought I got my hat-trick. It was an eventful over,” Axar said.
“Honestly, I started celebrating when the ball went to Rohit Sharma. But then I realized he had dropped it. What to do. Sabke saath hota hai (happens with everybody). When it happened, I did not react much as I just turned back and went away. It’s part of the game, ” Axar Patel said on Star Sports.
“The wicket got easier to bat and I think it’s an easy total to chase. It’s a slow wicket and as the ball gets older, it gets easier to bat. Second innings, it’ll continue to remain slow. My role is to contribute whenever my team needs. Happy that the team trusts me a lot.”
What happened in the last ODI match between India and Bangladesh in Dubai?
The last time India and Bangladesh played an ODI match in Dubai was on September 28, 2018. It was the Asia Cup final where both teams played brilliantly and produced a thriller.
After opting to bat first in the match, Bangladesh got off to a flying start with Litton Das scoring a magnificent 121 off 117 balls. However, after reaching 120/0, Bangladesh suffered a dramatic collapse, losing all ten wickets for just 102 more runs.
Other than Litton Das, no batter was able to perform well and Indian bowlers just ran through the batting unit, restricting them to 222 in 48.3 overs.
Talking about India’s chase, it began steadily with Rohit Sharma scoring 48. However, Bangladesh bowlers made life hard for India with their disciplined bowling.
Bangladesh picked up wickets at regular intervals and the hamstring injury to Kedar Jadhav helped them for a while as he got retired hurt.
However, Jadhav (23*) returned at the end and, alongside Kuldeep Yadav (5*), somehow took India past the finish line on the last ball of the match. Bangladesh lost the match, but their star batter, Litton Das, won the Player of the Match for his century. Also, with the thrilling win, India secured their seventh Asia Cup title.