Shastri, Gavaskar made Pakistan blood boil ahead of final vs India
MUMBAI: Pakistan finally broke the jinx in major International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments against India when they won the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 in England. If one former Pakistan team manager is to be believed, then two people played a vital part in Pakistan’s success. They are Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri.
Talat Ali, who was Pakistan’s team manager at the tournament, claims the assessment that his team did not stand a chance against India — from former cricketers Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri — fired up his team ahead of the final.
Ali says that by writing off Pakistan ahead of the final, the Indian cricket experts Gavaskar and Shastri — who took over as India coach after the tournament — in a way did his side a favour.
“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,” Ali was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
Pakistan produced a shocking surprise when they hammered India in the final in June this year, clinching the title for the first time ever.
After posting a huge total of 338 for four, Pakistan blew away the famed Indian batting line-up by dismissing Virat Kohli’s team for a mere 158, winning the contest by a huge margin of 180 runs.
Ali acknowledged that Pakistan were lucky to have been asked to bat first on what turned out to be a placid wicket.
“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 decent total on the board, it was going to be tough for India,” Ali expressed.
Pakistan came into the tour- nament as the eighth-ranked side, and were mauled by India in the tournament’s opener. However, the defeat in the first game brought about a drastic change in the Sarfaraz Ahmedled team, which went on to win the trophy.
“We had quite a bit of luck as I said. We were lucky in that South Africa game where we had lost early wickets and then it rained. Against
Sri Lanka, we were struggling and I have no idea how Thisara Perera dropped that catch. Then in the final, Fakhar (Zaman) was out off a no-ball when he was on three,” Ali acknowledged.
India, champions in the 2013 edition of the tournament, had lost to Sri Lanka in the league stages before reaching the final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017.
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