CT 2025: Shami returns to action following minor ankle pain during IND-PAK clash

Dubai [UAE], February 23 (ANI): In a great relief to the Indian fans, pacer Mohammed Shami made a return to the field after encountering minor pain in his ankle during the early overs of the ongoing India-Pakistan ICC Champions Trophy clash in Dubai on Sunday.
Shami made his return for the fourth over of his spell in the 12th over of the innings after being off the field following the fifth over of the innings.
Shami started off the innings looking a little off-colour, delivering five wide balls in the first over itself and giving away total of six runs in the first over.
However, in the next two overs, he gave away just four and three runs. In his third over of the spell, the fifth over of the innings, Shami felt some pain in his ankle region after the fourth ball, causing the physio to come out in the middle to have a check.
After his over, Shami was off the field as suggested by the visuals on the live television, commentators and Cricbuzz live commentary.
Hardik Pandya came to deliver the seventh over.
Notably, Shami just recently made his return from an ankle injury that kept him away from the game for over one year during the white-ball series against England, playing two T20Is and ODIs each.
He made his Champions Trophy debut against Bangladesh in Dubai, marking the occasion with a thunderous return to form a five-wicket haul, his fifth fifer in ICC ODI events.
An official update on his fitness is awaited.
Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat first.
The last time India and Pakistan clashed in a Champions Trophy event was during the 2017 edition's final, when Virat Kohli-led star-studded unit was humbled by Men in Green at the peak of star batters' run-chasing powers, being skittled out for 158 runs while chasing a mammoth 338 runs which Pakistan reached on the back of a century from Fakhar Zaman.
Avenging this would be fresh on the minds of players who were part of this heart-wrenching defeat, and their fans would no doubt relish every moment of India dominating Pakistan with bat or ball.
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav
Pakistan (Playing XI): Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (wk/c), Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed. (ANI)