Axar Patel Demands This From Rohit Sharma Openly After India Captain's Drop Catch

Axar Patel could have become the first Indian and only the second overall player to take a hat-trick in the history of the ICC Champions Trophy to join West Indies’ Jerome Taylor, but he failed to put his name on the shortly as the Indian captain dropped the catch of Jaker Ali against Bangladesh in Dubai.

However, India had a wonderful time in all three departments as they chased down the score of 229 runs with six wickets in hand, thanks to Shubman Gill’s unbeaten century, while the wicket-keeper batter, KL Rahul, remained undefeated on 47 runs in the fixture.

Axar Patel impresses with the tight line and lengths

Rohit has shown enough confidence in the all-round skill of Axar Patel, who has batted at number five in the line-up, over Rahul. The Gujarat spinner was also the first one of the three whom Rohit introduced into the attack, ahead of Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja.

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By the time Axar came into the attack, Bangladesh had lost three early wickets in the batting department. Mohammad Shami drew the first blood on the sixth delivery of the contest, while four balls later, Harshit Rana celebrated his first wicket of the afternoon. Shamo also sent back Mehidy Hasan Miraz for five runs.

Axar, on the second delivery of the ninth over, sent back Tanzid Hasan for just 25 runs. The left-handed opening batter hung back to force the length ball through the off-side with an angled blade but got a thick edge into Rahul's hands.

Mushfiqur Rahim, on his very first delivery, pressed forward to block the drifting delivery, but the ball dropped in front of him and spun away a bit. Rahul grabbed another exceptional catch to send the veteran wicket-keeper of the opponent side back to the pavilion for a first-ball duck.

India’s left-arm spinner finished with figures of 2/43 in nine overs, including a maiden. With the bat, he couldn’t contribute, being dismissed on eight runs in 12 deliveries.

Axar Patel makes hilarious comment on Rohit Sharma

On his hat-trick delivery, Axar Patel got two slips and one slip in the field, and he went with a slower ball to the new batter, Jaker Ali, who got an outside edge into the hands of Rohit. But the Indian captain dropped a comfortable catch, which came at a normal pace and a great height.

After the end of the game, Rohit accepted his mistake in picking the catch and stated that he would take Axar Patel to dinner to make up for the dropped chance.

“I may take him for a dinner tomorrow. That was an easy catch, I should have taken that catch, the standards I have set standing in the slips, but these things happen.” The Nagpur-born expressed in the presentation.

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A day later, Axar Patel posted pictures on his X handle and cheekily took on Rohit’s comment.

“Wickets in the bag, win on the board. @ImRo45 Dinner pending hai.” Wrote the spinner.

Wickets in the bag, win on the board… @ImRo45 Dinner pending hai 😆😂 pic.twitter.com/udSZnuVbYy

— Axar Patel (@akshar2026) February 21, 2025

India shifts focus to Pakistan

The fielding was up to the mark for the Indian side. Apart from Rohit’s dropped catch of Axar Patel’s bowling, Hardik Pandya also dropped a simple catch in the clash, and that caused the blue brigade a long chase in the end.

They could have easily bundled out the Tigers for 100 runs but saw the opponents getting past the 200-run mark. India will hope to rectify the mistakes before the second clash against Pakistan on the ground, as the victory in that encounter will qualify them for the semifinal.