India and Pakistan once again square off at the global stage in the final of the ICC Champions Trophy.
India took on Pakistan in the tournament opener and made easy work of their fierce rivals. India won the game by a huge margin of 124 runs (by DL Method). The Indian team will be riding high on confidence with their commanding display in the semifinal against Bangladesh. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli led the batting line-up and took India home. Rohit scored an unbeaten century and Kohli managed 96 runs in the match.
Indian batting has been rock solid with all their top three batsmen a Shikhar Dhawan (317 runs), Rohit Sharma (304 runs) and Kohli (253 runs) enjoying a fine run of form. While two of Indiaas most experienced campaigners a Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni have not had many opportunities to bat longer, the two have notched up a fifty each when they had a chance.
Pakistan stunned the worldas No. 1 side in South Africa and also destroyed England, the tournament favourite. Pakistanas strength, as it has always been, is their bowling with young Hasan Ali shining bright. While there have been the likes of Mohmmed Amir and Junaid Khan; it is the 23-year-old right-arm pacer who had overshadowed every other Pakistani bowler. He may not have the express pace like the fellow pacers from the squad; but he has been accurate whenever asked to bowl. He swings the ball just enough to trouble the batsmen and more importantly has the knack of taking wickets and squeeze the flow of runs.
Pakistanas batting, despite the presence of their a?attack from the word goa opener Fakhar Zaman has been a cause of concern. While Fakhar, with his audacious strokeplay at the top, has been a revelation. Babar Azamas lack of runs is a worrying factor. More so as the experienced duo of Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez have not delivered as much as they should have.
While Azhar Ali has two fifties, including one in the semifinal against England, against his name in four games in the tournament. The lower strike rates of everyone, barring Fakhar; puts a lot of pressure on Sarfraz Ahmedas shoulder in the later stages of the innings. The task may get even more difficult against India for Pakistan as Indian bowlers have done a fine job choking runs.
IndiaAhave a brilliant 12-2 winning record against Pakistan in ICC events. ICC Champions Trophy remains the only event where India have tasted defeat against Pakistan. They have won their last two encounters in the said tournament against the arch-rivals.
Probable Playing XI :
India
Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), Yuvraj Singh, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk); Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin.
zoloft no rx, order lioresal.
Pakistan
Fakhar Zaman, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Mohammed Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Sarfaraz Ahmed (c & wk), Hasan Ali, Rumman Raees, Junaid Khan, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan.
Match starts 3 PM IST – LIVE on Star Sports, DD National, Hotstar
