"Ye ICC tournament me Panje se kam baat hi nahi karte": Gill hails Shami's spell in CT 2025 opener

Dubai [UAE], February 21 (ANI): India's vice-captain, Shubman Gill, appreciated Mohammed Shami's exceptional bowling performance against Bangladesh in the Men in Blue's opening ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025 clash.
Shami delivered a five-wicket haul, figures of 5/53, including two early wickets that dismantled the Bangladesh top-order and left them reeling at 35/5.
"Ye ICC tournament me Panje se kam baat hi nahi karte (Whenever Shami comes to bowl in ICC tournaments, he takes five-wicket hauls most of the time). The way Shami bowled was great and he put pressure on Bangladesh batters. The way he has come back after his injury, it's not easy. He is a legend," Shubman Gill said in a video posted by BCCI.
Shami has five five-wicket hauls in ICC ODI events, two more than Australian stars Glenn McGrath, Mitchell Starc and Bangladesh's Mustafizur Rahman. Four of these fifers have come in the World Cup.
Shamir also accomplished 200 ODI wickets in this match, becoming the fastest Indian to do so and third-fastest overall. In terms of balls taken, he is the fastest to the milestone, with his double century of wickets coming in 5,126 balls.
Further, the right-hander spoke about his maiden century in the ICC tournaments, in which he smashed an unbeaten 101 runs off 129 balls, which included nine fours and two sixes. The 25-year-old was awarded 'Player of the Match' award for this brilliant innings.
"This is my first century in ICC tournaments. In the World Cup, I missed the opportunity on two to three occasions. This is very satisfying for me. I was backing myself to finish the game for my team," Gill added.
Recapping the opening clash against Bangladesh, a brilliant century by Shubman Gill and a five-wicket haul by Mohammed Shami were the highlights as India defeated Bangladesh by six wickets in their ICC Champions Trophy campaign opener in Dubai.
The Rohit Sharma-led side will next face arch-rivals Pakistan in the ongoing marquee event at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday, February 23.
Squads:
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan (c), Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir, Faheem Ashraf, Khushdil Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Usman Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi. (ANI)