Abrar Ahmed gives fiery send-off to Shubman Gill, signals towards dressing room; India opener looks back in anger

Abrar Ahmed gives fiery send-off to Shubman Gill, signals towards dressing room; India opener looks back in anger

Abrar Ahmed gives fiery send-off to Shubman Gill, signals towards dressing room; India opener looks back in anger ByHT Sports Desk Feb 23, 2025 08:26 PM IST Share Via Copy Link India vs Pakistan, CT 2025: Abrar Ahmed bowled a perfect leg-spinner to rattle Shubman Gill's stumps. However, it was the send-off that grabbed eyeballs. 

Pakistan spinner Abrar Ahmed came up with the ball of the match as he dismissed India's opening batter, Shubman Gill, in the 18th over of the Group A match of the ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025. Such was the brilliance of the delivery that even Virat Kohli looked impressed at the non-striker's end. After rattling Gill's stumps, Abrar gave a send-off to the right-hander as he signalled towards the pavilion.

Abrar Ahmed gave a fiery send-off to Shubman Gill. (REUTERS)

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar also said on commentary that the delivery reminded him of Ravichandran Ashwin's carrom-ball or the flicker.

On the third ball of the 18th over, Abrar Ahmed bowled a quick leg-break and ended up squaring Gill, who was well set in the middle. The absolute ripper beat Shubman Gill's defence, and his stumps were rattled.

As the Pakistan supporters celebrated in the stands, Abrar signalled to Gill to walk back to the dressing room. Virat Kohli's reaction at the non-striker's end was priceless as he looked amazed by the delivery that Abrar dished out to end Gill's knock of 46 runs off 52 balls.

Earlier, Abrar was not taken aback by the challenge of bowling to Virat Kohli as he stared at the Indian batter. However, Kohli did not indulge in any banter or spat as he just passed a smile towards the Pakistani leg-spinner.

Earlier, Shaheen Shah Afridi cut short Rohit Sharma's innings. The Indian captain returned to the hut after scoring 20 runs off 15 balls. The left-arm pacer dished out a perfect inswinging yorker, and the 37-year-old could not bring his bat down in time.

As a result, Rohit's stumps went for a toss. However, during the course of his knock, Rohit Sharma surpassed Sachin Tendulkar to become the fastest opening batter in ODIs to go past the 9000 ODI runs mark.

Virat Kohli also became the fastest batter to surpass the 14000 runs mark in the 50-over format.

Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat first. Mohammad Rizwan and co. were bundled out for 241, and the side was not even able to play out thefull quota of 50 overs. For India, Kuldeep Yadav returned with three wickets, while Saud Shakeel was the top-scorer for Pakistan.

Pakistan made one change to their playing XI for the contest against India. Imam-ul-Haq replaced the injured Fakhar Zaman, who has been ruled out of the tournament.