The Champions Trophy 2025 encounter between India and Pakistan in Dubai saw the batters struggle to score runs quickly as the pitch was slightly slow and offered some purchase to the bowlers. While Pakistan did get a good start before losing a couple of wickets, the run rate was not massive as they looked to play cautiously against a disciplined bowling attack. Former India spinner R Ashwin took to social media to give verdict on the pitch at the Dubai International Stadium and he went on to call it ‘tired’.

“Tired pitches in Dubai, don’t confuse Pakistan’s previous batting innings to this one. Wasn’t the easiest of chases in the last game here,” Ashwin posted on X (formerly Twitter).

Tired pitches in Dubai, don’t confuse Pakistan’s previous batting innings to this one.

Wasn’t the easiest of chases in the last game here.#ChampionsTrophy

— Ashwin (@ashwinravi99) February 23, 2025

Pakistan played their first game of the competition in Karachi where they failed to chase down a target of 321 and were bundled out for 260. Ashwin said that the pitch in Dubai will be very different and predicted that it will not be an easy chase for the Indian cricket team.

Meanwhile, the match saw an erratic start for the Rohit Sharma-led side as pacer Mohammed Shami bowled five wides in the opening over of the high-stakes encounter and registered an unwanted record to his name.

Shami took 11 balls to complete his six-ball over, surpassing Jasprit Bumrah’s nine-ball over to bowl the longest over by an Indian in the Champions Trophy.

Coincidentally, Bumrah’s nine-ball over also came against Pakistan in the 2017 Champions Trophy final at the Oval, which India lost by 180 runs to miss out on their second tournament title.

Shami’s five wides was also the most by any bowler in the opening over of the Champions Trophy. However, Tinashe Panyangara of Zimbabwe holds the record of bowling most wides (seven) in an over in the tournament.

(With ANI inputs)