Pakistan’s swing in fortunes

PAKISTAN’S players might be forgiven for pinching themselves as they line up for the anthems at the Oval tomorrow.

Eighteen months ago, the prospect of being in the Champions Trophy final against their greatest rivals India could not have been more remote.

It was on October 3, 2015, just four days after the cut-off date to qualify for this event as one of the top eight teams, that Pakistan lost to Zimbabwe and slipped to ninth.

Had they played a week before, West Indies would have been here.

Since then they have experienced fluctuating fortunes to say the least and were hammered by India in their opening match at Edgbaston.

Yet after a crushing semi-final defeat of England they now stand between India and a second Champions Trophy title in a row. Pakistan will be reliant on another blistering start from rookie opener Fakhar Zaman and the elegant Azhar Ali.

Yet it is with the ball that they can really hurt India as they have arguably the finest bowling line-up of the tournament in Hasan Ali (leading the charts with 10 wickets), Junaid Khan and Mohammad Amir. And the scalp they will want the most is Virat Kohli.

The India captain has 253 runs at an average of 253 and Amir said: “The India team relies on Kohli and he will be under pressure because it’s his first big final as a captain.”

Reverse swing rather than psychology will play a bigger part in the match, though, and if Pakistan can get it going even Kohli will be in trouble.