Team India pacer Mohammed Shami stayed out of the way as a few members of the side blew the bottle of champagne open on the stage to celebrate their Champions Trophy 2025 victory. A video of the same surfaced on social media as the 34-year-old joined in his mates after the champagne celebrations were done.
While the exact reason why Shami stepped aside remains unknown, the general belief is that the veteran did so, owing to his religious beliefs, given alcohol is prohibited in Islam. The right-arm pacer was embroiled in a controversy following his match-winning three-wicket haul in the semi-final against Australia in Dubai as a Muslim cleric labelled him a 'criminal' for not fasting during Ramadan, given he had a juice when Australia were batting.
The Bengal pacer took the crucial wicket of Daryl Mitchell for 63 in the final against New Zealand on Sunday, ensuring that the target to be chased down doesn't go out of hand. He led the pace-bowling attack expertly in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, who was ruled out of the eight-team event due to a back injury.
"I have seen very few teams that have won two tournaments undefeated" - Rohit Sharma
At the post-game presser, skipper Rohit Sharma said he is proud of how India have gone two tournaments undefeated and hailed their efforts and said, as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo:
"It is a great team achievement for the team to win two ICC trophies and to go undefeated is the icing on the cake. I have seen very few teams that have won two tournaments undefeated. For us, the most important thing was that we come here and prepared and played the opposition. We used the conditions well and won. Future plan... there's no future plan, whatever is happening will keep happening."
With rumours swirling before the final that the veteran opener will retire from the ODIs, he also completely shut them down.
