Pakistan prevail

PAKISTAN flipped the form guide to prevail over a very strong Indian team in yesterday’s ICC Champions Trophy final at the Oval.

After coming into the tournament ranked sixth in the world for one-day internationals, having lost senior, experienced players in Younis Khan and Misbah Ul-Haq through retirement, no one would have given them a chance.

A horrendous start to the tournament against India, which saw them lose by 124 runs, would have resigned most teams to the scrapheap.

However, an unexpected win over South Africa at Edgbaston saw them grow in confidence and a win over Sri Lanka saw them book a semi-final berth against the home favourites, England.

After an emphatic eight-wicket win over the hosts, many thought the bubble was bound to burst in the final against the highly-fancied Indian side.

In finals anything can happen, but who would have predicted a whopping 180-run victory?

After posting an impressive 338 runs, Hasan Ali picked up three wickets for a meagre 19 runs in the final and walked off with the Player of the Series. Fakhar Zaman, who made his ODI debut in the tournament, was Pakistan’s top run scorer and Ali was the tournament’s top wicket taker with 13.

This fairytale tournament for Pakistan was an inspiration to all underdogs across all sporting codes. Hopefully we will see more of this...