On June 18, 2017, the Sarfaraz Ahmed-led Pakistan cricket team made history by one-sidedly beating arch-rivals and defending champions India in the final of the ICC Champions Trophy.
Pakistan immortalized its name in record books by beating India with a huge margin of 180 runs in the final.
India team, thought to be favourites entering the final, were first battered by the Pakistan batting line-up with rookie Fakhar Zaman scoring his maiden hundred on the biggest occasion possible. while the envied Indian batting line-up could never recover from Muhammad Amir’s fierce opening spell.
Pakistan took the charge early when the openers Fakhar Zaman and Azhar Ali provided Pakistan with a brilliant start of 126 runs. Azhar Ali scored 59 while Fakhar scored a brilliant 114. The rest of the line-up, Babar Azam’s 46 and Hafeez’s quickfire 57, capitalized on the great start and put a score of 338-4 in their 50 overs.
Things could have been different if Bumrah had not overstepped went he got Fkahar Zaman caught behind on a team total of 9. Fakhar made them pay and how.
Although Pakistan scored a very big target on board if any batting line-up could chase that total, it was the chase master Virat Kohli-led team India. The Indian line-up had the likes of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Koli and MS Dhoni at their disposal.
But, then came Muhammad Amir in all his swinging glory. He dismissed the Indian flamboyant opener in the very first over of the inning with an in-swinging ball that hit his pads.
Another critical moment that could have impacted the game’s outcome was when Muhammad Amir’s delivery took the edge of Virat’s bat and flew to the slips cordon. But, Azhar Ali could not catch it. The whole of Pakistan was silent as to how costly would this drop cost, flashbacks of the 2014 Asia cup when Kohli scored 183 runs against Pakistan and steered India’s chase of 330 runs giant Pakistan came to the memories.
But, some balls later, the ball took the edge again, to the point region this time, and a young Shadab Khan caught it. Pakistan was ecstatic over the fall of the Indian captain, Dhawan followed soon, kicking a ball to the wicket-keeper.
Pakistan nearly sealed the deal with the fall of Indian legend MS Dhoni on Hassan Ali’s delivery. Indian were dismissed for a total of 158 in just 30.3 overs.
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Pakistan’s victory was a remarkable achievement as the team had to literally fight for its qualification in the tournament. Pakistan was ranked the lowest out of the 8 teams in the tournament. But, Sarfaraz’s amazing leadership, Fakahr’s mind-blowing debut tournament, and Muhammad Amir’s scintillating bowling made Pakistan the champions.
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