There's a reason Rohit Sharma is called the 'Hitman' ¡ª his powerful shots can send the ball flying across the park, and sometimes, right at anyone in its path. This was on full display during the 1st semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 between India and Australia at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Chasing 265 runs set by Australia, who were bowled out in 49.3 overs, captain Rohit Sharma started aggressively ¡ª as he often does ¡ª looking to smash the ball from the very first delivery. During his brief yet impactful innings of 28 off 29 balls, one of his thunderous shots had on-field umpire Chris Gaffaney diving to the ground for cover.
On the last ball of the sixth over, Rohit stepped down the track, created room, and hammered a flat-batted shot straight down the ground off Nathan Ellis. The ball rocketed towards Gaffaney, forcing the umpire to duck and lie flat on the pitch to avoid being hit.
The ball raced away for a boundary, but Rohit was seen sticking his tongue out in mild embarrassment. Gaffaney, on the other hand, wore a mix of fear and relief on his face. The moment quickly went viral, with the ICC sharing the clip on their Instagram page, captioning it: "Glances explained all that transpired."
At the time of writing, India had begun their chase but lost both Shubman Gill (8 off 11) and Rohit Sharma in the Powerplay. Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer have since steadied the innings, taking the score to 134 in 26 overs. Interestingly, after 16 overs, both teams were at the same score ¡ª 82 for 2 ¡ª mirroring each other's start to the semi-final clash.
For Australia, captain Steven Smith led the scoring with 73 off 96 balls, followed by Alex Carey's quickfire 61 off 57. Travis Head (39 off 33), Marnus Labuschagne (29 off 36), Ben Dwarshuis (19 off 29), and Josh Inglis (11 off 12) added valuable runs with crucial cameos.?
In the bowling department, Mohammed Shami starred with three wickets, while Varun Chakravarthy and Ravindra Jadeja claimed two each. Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel also contributed, taking one wicket apiece.
Australia (Playing XI): Cooper Connolly, Travis Head, Steven Smith(c), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis(w), Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Tanveer Sangha?
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy?
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