Amidst the high-intensity match underway between Rohit Sharma-led team India and Mohammed Rizwan-led Pakistan at Dubai in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy 2025, Imam-ul-Haq’s run out by Axar Patel has become a point of discussion.
After Hardik Pandya dismissed Pakistan’s star batter Babar Azam in the second delivery of ninth over, India’s another all-rounder Axar Patel stunned Pakistan’s another opener Iman-ul-Haq by sending the latter to pavilion via a brilliant run out.
Axar Patel, in the 10th over of the first innings, caught hold of the shot by Imam, who shimmed forward and pushed the second delivery of Kuldeep Yadav. Patel charged in and hit the stumps directly, which resulted in Imam-ul-Haq’s drastic runout.
Following this, India’s former players and now a celebrated commentator — Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar took a dig at Imam Ul Haq’s run-out and linked it to former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq.
Both Shastri and Gavaskar – who were on commentary – recalled Inzamam-Ul-Haq’s tryst with run-outs. Shastri even mentioned how Imam has been run out six times while Inzamam holds the record for being run out on 46 occasions in international cricket. Imam is the nephew of Inzamam.
Responding to Shastri’s comments, Pakistan’s former skipper and celebrated bowler Wasim Akram commented, as Times Now reported, “No comment. Inzy will get upset. But I might be there somewhere as well. I wasn’t the best runner in the world. It (Imam’s run-out) was kind of a suicide run. There was no need for it. He was well set, and then that silly decision by Imam-ul-Haq. He is back in the dressing room.”
Sunil Gavaskar then jokingly said, “Ravi, you asked whether it runs in the family? I think there’s no run in it.”
Meanwhile, after winning the toss and elected to bat first, Pakistan scored a total of 241 runs in 49.4 overs after losing all wickets.
India vs Pakistan head-to-head:
Pakistan enjoy a 73-57 head-to-head record against India in ODIs out of 135 matches. Five matches ended in no result. In Champions Trophy, Pakistan enjoy 3-2 lead over India.
India vs Pakistan Playing XI:
India XI: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav.
Pakistan XI: Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan(wk/captain), Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed.
