The Scottish Mail on Sunday

Cornered tigers intending to roar in front of a billion

- By Paul Newman

PAKISTAN will summon up the spirit of Imran Khan’s ‘cornered tigers’ today as they attempt to complete their remarkable Champions Trophy journey by upsetting India in what could be the most watched cricket match of all time.

A staggering billion people are expected to tune in on television around the world for a final at the Oval that, unless you are an England fan, represents the dream conclusion to what has been a largely disappoint­ing mini World Cup.

And Pakistan, who scraped into the event as the eighthrank­ed team out of eight, hope to upset the odds one more time by avenging the comprehens­ive opening defeat by their old rivals that left them on the brink of eliminatio­n. It was 25 years ago that Imran made his famous descriptio­n of his side when they rallied from the verge of going out in the group stages to defeat England in the World Cup final in Melbourne and victory today would be as dramatic. ‘The way the players have dragged themselves off the canvas after that defeat by India has been amazing,’ said Pakistan’s South African coach Mickey Arthur. ‘But I don’t think we’ve exceeded expectatio­ns at all.

‘Our mantra throughout the tournament has been that we wanted to get to London and now we’re here we want to go one step further and win it. That would be fantastic.’

Arthur confirmed that Mohammad Amir (left) has recovered from the back spasm that kept him out of Pakistan’s semi-final victory over England and will return to an attack that has been brilliantl­y led by the tournament’s leading wicket-taker in Hasan Ali.

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