Pakistan cricket back on track after Champions Trophy victory
From Fakhar Zaman to Hasan Ali and Shadab Khan, Pakistan has shown the world its talent and pedigree
This is one victory that Pakistan fans will remember for long. It has been an ultra-quick turnaround from no-hopers to champions for the Pakistan players and the manner in which the team won the match was really impressive.
Rarely have I seen Pakistan deliver such a clinical performance in a tournament decider and annihilating hot favourite India came as a pleasant surprise. This Pakistan side has made me and the nation proud. I am simply overjoyed and over the moon on this astonishing success by Sarfraz Ahmed’s side.
Pakistan has unearthed new heroes in a span of 14 days. From Fakhar Zaman to Hasan Ali and Shadab Khan, Pakistan has shown the world its rich talent and pedigree. In Sarfraz, it now has a captain who can perhaps take the team to unprecedented glory in the years ahead. Winning a world event final by 180 runs is as overwhelming as it gets. Remember, this is the same team that barely qualified for the tournament, started as the lowthrough est-ranked team in the fray, and was handed a 124-run drubbing in the opening match by India.
The turnaround has left the world bewildered and has brought a wave of ecstasy and unbridled joy for Pakistanis all around the world. As soon as the game ended, celebrations mirroring the 1992 World Cup and 2009 World T20 wins began across the country.
The game today was all about Pakistan’s positivity and fearless approach. Fakhar and Azhar Ali fought through a torrid start, especially the southpaw, who survived after nicking a Jasprit Bumrah no-ball to MS Dhoni.
Fakhar from there on blossomed and played a scintillating innings. I would rate his performance as arguably the greatest by a Pakistani in a world event final considering that this was only his fourth ODI and first ever against India.
I was hugely impressed by his courage despite getting hit in the head early in his innings and how he forgot that to build a most memorable innings. A lot of credit must be given to Azhar, who took the responsibility to score the runs early on in the innings when Fakhar looked troubled; the two also rotated the strike brilliantly which never allowed Indian bowlers to settle.
Fakhar and Azhar established a wonderful base which was exploited efficiently by Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez and Imad Wasim. A real positive for Pakistan was its batting against spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who looked rattled and clueless against the onslaught by the batsmen.
Chasing 339 was never going to be easy despite the pedigree of the Indian batting line-up. Today was the day when Mohammad Amir had to rise and perhaps redeem himself for good. www.icccricket.com