In a crepuscular setting of the Champions Trophy 2017 tournament with as many as 8 teams, the round-robin & knock out round had thrills and chills.
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Green Shirts stepped into the English soil not as favourites but as a silent killer. Obviously the searing pressure was not even there on them.
Even before they started playing, the pundits wrote them off. However, the end result was in stark contrast with Pakistan pulling off the ropes against India in the Champions Trophy 2017 final.
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What also bode well for Pakistan is the fact that they avenge defeat to India in the ICC final event. Thinking about the ICC World T20 2007 final’s bad memories, the recent success enriched Pakistan’s fervour.
Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar and current Indian head coach Ravi Shastri who were analysing both the teams predicted India to win the final and this pumped up the Pakistan players to up their ante.
“India wrote us off in the final. I was listening to the analysis of Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri and they gave us no chance.
That fired up the boys. It was called a no-contest and we were written off. We said let the bat and ball do the talking,” Talat Ali, the Manager of the team told Cricbuzz.
“We had quite a bit of luck. Difficult to figure out why India put us in after winning the toss. With our strong bowling attack, once we put a decent total on the board, it was going to be tough for India”.
When India and Pakistan lock horns, there couldn’t be any bigger sporting carnival that would keep the supporters from the both teams at the best scene. Ali hopes that the bilateral series between both teams could resume soon.
“I am told that television channels rate India – Pakistan clash as the third biggest in the world. Football obviously takes the top spot.
The coverage of that game in Pakistan was tremendous and I am sure that was the same case in India. I hope we play regularly so that the tension goes off.”
The more cricket we play, the better it will be. I hope the bilateral series resumes soon.”
