Had it been just another match between India Pakistan match and not the final of the ICC Champions Trophy, the environment and the style of build-up would have still resembled that of a battle. When brutality, bloodshed, cruelty and war are the most commonly used words to define the relation between these two Asian giants even the 22 yards seems like a battlefield where the 22 players equally divided into two teams try to replicate the heroics of the soldiers of their respective nations.
Emotions and sentiments will break all its previous benchmarks and all roads in London will lead to The Oval tomorrow when the men in blue lead by Virat Kohli will take ground to defend their title against arch rivals Pakistan. Although guns and grenades will be replaced by bats and balls, the cheers for every single run and wicket in the stands will be more nationalistic and patriotic than mere appreciation of the batman or bowler.
With the social media platforms becoming the virtual Line of Control, the Pakistani fans and some ex-cricketers, known for being foul mouths, have used their keyboards in a manner which in no way upholds the spirit of the gentleman’s game. Harping on the fact that they are still ahead of India in terms of the numbers of wins they have earned against the latter in ODIs, they neighbours truly need to be reminded that in global tourneys, the score is 13-2 in favour of the Indians.
With the Imrans, Wasims, Waqars, Inzys and Maindads only glorious in the books of history now, the team from Pakistan does not even look like the shadow of what it used to be in the 80s and the 90s.
Heading into this match, there is hardly any doubt that India is the favourites. The sheer fact that on Sunday, India will be appearing for the 4th time in the final of Champions Trophy is in itself an endorsement of India’s stupendous performance as far as this tourney is concerned.
The men in blue do not require a bait of an encounter with Sarfaraz Ahmed’s men to charge up themselves as they already have what it takes to lift the trophy for the second time in a row. Till now both strategically and performance wise, India looks far better a side than Pakistan and thus the odds too are in favour of Virat and co. In fact India crushed Pakistan in their league opener by 124 runs (D/L method).
While both these Group B teams have lost one match each so far, India’s overall mark sheet looks way more glorious than their opponent’s.
Here is a quick look why India can take their lead to 14 as far as their equation against Pakistan in ICC events are concerned and lift the World Cup of the champion
- Virat Is More Potent As A Leader
If also the fact that Virat Kohli has scored a staggering 6,364 more runs than his Pakistani counterpart Sarfaraz Ahmed is taken out of the equation, what remains evident is the formers ability to handle pressure as a captain is much better than the latter’s. Kohli as a captain is more seasoned, thanks to the extensive exposure that Indian cricket provides. As a batsman and a captain, he has pulled out India from many tricky situations. In the 24 ODIs he has captained India so far India has won 19. Although, Sarfaraz Ahmed has performed decently as a captain, Kohli’s record of 79.16 in terms of win percentage is truly intimidating for an opponent captain. - The Dhoni Factor
Be it behind the timber works or with the willow in his hand, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a man who, in countless occasions, has changed the complexion of the match almost single-handedly. Now that he is not the captain anymore, Dhoni can free more free to erupt in a style which gained him the laurel of being one of the best finishers of this limited over version of the game. What is even more important when Dhoni will take his position behind the stumps on Sunday is his priceless tips to captain Kohli which will be products of his experience that he has gained while captaining Indian against Pakistan on several big stage encounters, be it the T20 world cup final in 2007 or the semi-final of the 50 overs World Cup in 2011. - Dhawan At The Top
For Shikhar Dhawan, England has surely been his favourite hunting ground in ODIs. In the 10 innings that he has played here, Dhawan has amassed 586 runs which includes 2 tons and 3 half centuries. In Champions Trophy, the leftie averages 86.20 with 431 runs under his belt. So far, Dhawan has scored 2 fifties and 2 hundreds in the CT. Amidst other player who have scored 400 or more runs in the competition, Dhawan top them in terms of strike rate with 101.89. Along with Dhawan, Rohit Sharma is also in red hot form and the duo has and the duo has jointly scored 518 runs in 6 innings at an average of 86.33. - Middle Order: Pak’s Agony, India’s Boon –
India’s middle order has come out all guns blazing each time they had an opportunity to exhibit their batting prowess. In fact, Virat Kohli scored a fantastic 81 the last time these two nations met in CT. Kohli’s knock of 96 against Bangladesh testified his calibre while chasing targets. Yuvraj Singh was at his destructive best against Pakistan in Edgbaston where he smashed a 29-ball 50, giving india the much needed momentum before Hardik Pandya hit three consecutive sixes in the last over. Although his efforts went in vein, MS Dhoni scored a brisk 63 of 52 balls against the island nation, Sri Lanka, hitting 2 maximums and 7 fours. On the other hand, pakkistan’s middle order has been exposed twice the tournament. India ripped the batting order in Birmingham and Sri Lanka would have gone on to win the match and qualify had Sarfaraz and Md Amir not built that match winning partnership. - Accurate And Discipline Bowling –
Bowlers are best described as “adaptable species”. Since the bowl is not doing as much as it was expected to Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has stuck to good lines and lengths getting some purchase from the pitch. Bhuvi has provided India with crucial early wickets all throughout the tournament. Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin is more than capable of spinning a web around the opponent. Jasprit Bumrah has changed the face of India’s death over bowling with his lethal yorkers.
Heading into this match, the 1.32 billion Indians can truly be more hopeful than the 202 million Pakistanis. A fun fact is Pakistan was the opponent in the final when MS Dhoni captained India for the first time in a major global tournament, ICC World T20 2007, and Pakistan once again is the team that will be up against Virat Kohli’s men in the first ICC tourney that he is captaining.
