Pakistan bounce back in style : Wins ICC CHAMPIONS TROPHY 2017
Came into this tournament as an Underdog but they go back as Champions. Yes, thats the story of Pakistan. Coming into this tournament, there were ranked number 8 but they outplayed all the top teams to clinch their maiden champions trophy title. India, the former ICC Champions trophy winner was completely stunned by the way Pakistani’s played. Not only Indian, but their come back through out the tournament has been exceptional. Having lost to India in the group stage matches, they bounced back and defeated Sri Lanka and South Africa convincingly. Later they trashed the host in the semi finals to play India in the finals.
It was an all-round performance from Pakistan in the finals. Though they lost the toss, they were on the diving seat through out. There was no glitches or scratches in Pakistani batting style. The openers gave them a brilliant start with an opening stand of 128. It was Fakhar Zaman, the youngster, who smashed the Indians bowlers around and went on to make 114 of just 106 balls. He was well supported by Azhar Ali who played a convincing knock of 59 of 71 balls. The surprising element was unlike before all the Pakistani batsmen approached the game positively. Shohaib Malik yet again came to crease as a guest and was sent back soon. It was Babar Azam’s and Muhammed Hafeez’s contribution that pushed the Pakistan to go beyond 300, along with Imad Wasim who played a cameo role towards the end of the Innings. Pakistan for the first time in this tournament looked positive and their batting unlike the other times, look pretty applying and were successful in getting the score to 338 in 50 over allowed with 6 wickets remaining.
Talk about their bowling, it was good to see the old Pakistan shape back. Back in the age, Pakistan were know for its aggressive bowling with the like of Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram. Yesterday they delivered the same sort of performance that they had delivered in the past. Their bowling was right on spot with bowlers getting swing and were successful in making life uneasy for Indian batsman. Leading from the front, Mohammed Amir took 3 important wickets first up, accompanying him with the 3 wicket haul was Hassan, who just blistered through the middle order. Shadab Khan ended his icc campaign with 2 wickets and Junaid Khan got one to his account.
India on the other hand had a very bad day with bowl and bat. Their bowlers were pretty helpless as the Pakistani batsman just drove, hooked and swept them around. The worlds best bowlers too were grasping for some help. The only bowlers among wickets were Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya and KM Jadhav with 1 wicket each.
India is known for its depth batting quality but the Pakistani bowlers just tore them apart. The Indian openers have had a pretty good tournament so far and always delivered it for India, but it was completely different story written today. Except for Pandya, everyone else struggled. Pandya gave India hopes down the order but a silly mistake by Jadeja costed his wicket. Thought involved in a run out Jadeja too couldn’t take India home. The upper order just shattered by loosing wickets pretty fast in regular intervals. Dhawan and Yuvraj tried settling in but Pakistani bowlers were too good for them.
ICC CHAPIONS TROPHY 2017 finally concluded and had been a rollercoaster ride through out. To start of most of the matches were affected due to rain but towards the end people did enjoy a full show. Hasan Ali was named Man of the Series and was also awarded for leading wicket taker. Shekhar Dhawan was awarded for being the leading run scorer – he defiantly loves to play in England.
Azam Sait
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