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Shaheen Afridi bowled Rohit Sharma with a stunning yorker in the 2025 Champions Trophy in Dubai. Rohit scored 20 off 15 balls before losing his wicket in India’s 242-run chase.
Snippets from Shaheen Afridi’s stunning yorker to dismiss Rohit Sharma. (PC: X)
Pakistan left-arm quick Shaheen Afridi made Indian captain Rohit Sharma relieve a familiar horror story by sneaking in a stunning, pacy and swinging yorker under his bat to clean-bowl him in the 2025 Champions Trophy clash in Dubai. Rohit had started well, hitting three boundaries and a six in his 14-ball knock but couldn’t keep Afridi out for long, losing his wicket for 20 (15).
It happened in the fifth over of India’s 242-run chase. Shubman Gill played out the first four deliveries before Rohit scooped the penultimate ball over covers with a brilliant lofted drive. Afridi smartly changed his line on the next ball, delivering an almost inch-perfect yorker, and the Indian right-hander had no answer to it.
Watch the video here:
The wicket was eerily similar to Rohit’s first-ball duck in the 2021 T20 World Cup, though at that time he was trapped LBW in front. India went on to lose that match by 10 wickets, one of the worst defeats for the Men in Blue in World Cups.
This was the sixth time Afridi got Rohit out in international cricket in nine matches. In ODIs, this was the Pakistani pacer’s fourth win over the Indian opener in six matches.
Rohit averages just 17.7 against Afridi in ODIs and a minuscule 6 in T20Is.
Unlike the T20I World Cup though, India didn’t let Rohit’s wicket give Pakistan momentum to roll them over. Rohit’s opening partner Shubman Gill took him on with as many as five boundaries, each more beautiful than the other, with just one edge that fell safely past the point region.
He was joined by Virat Kohli, who after a shaky start, went past the 14,000 mark in ODIs, becoming the fastest to do so. Rohit’s cameo and Gill’s batting in a way saved Kohli from facing Afridi, for the left-arm pace angle has troubled him as much as the skipper.
India will hope that Gill and Kohli can finish things off in the 242-run chase and help India all but cement their place for the semi-finals.
