India calm, Pak excited before final
RIVALRY Two will clash in the final for the first time. India are eyeing their third title, Pak their maiden
from Birmingham on Friday, India were back at the nets on Saturday morning. Under a blazing sun, Virat Kohli’s men spent an intense three hours breaking sweat.
Football plays a big role in training these days. In David Beckham’s country, the likes of Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya were practicing setpieces – banana kicks and putting the ball between two wickets (read goalposts).
The set-pieces will be significant in terms of the match on Sunday. Irrespective of the teams, both batsmen and bowlers will have to eschew flamboyance and build a pace that will be ensuring solidity throughout the 100 overs.
Pakistan’s bowlers, particularly left-arm pacer Mohammad Amir is fit to play the Champions Trophy final. He is perfectly capable of the banana swing, although the white ball hasn’t swung much in UK.
But the reverse swing and cutters will come into play and Hasan Ali, Pakistan’s ‘bombshell’ seamer, will be the man that India’s top order needs to play well.
India are unlikely to change the playing XI that hammered South Africa and Bangladesh in back-to-back matches.
Pakistan will be targeting India’s top three batsmen for sure. Although Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Kohli have scored buckets of runs they will treat the Pakistan attack with respect. Early wickets will expose the middle order which has not been tested.
But Virat Kohli is nonchalant. “The middle order is waiting for an opportunity to strike and guys like Hardik Pandya can produce that match-winning performance on a big day,” said the skipper.