India and Pakistan are ready to play a final against each other for the first time in an ICC ODI event. So get ready as the final of Champions Trophy 2017 is upon us. The game will be played in London between the two arch-rivals on Sunday. The match will begin at 3 pm IST.
It is interesting that so far in the history of the Champions Trophy, when pitted against each other, both teams have won two matches each. India of course beat Pakistan in the one game that these two teams played against each other earlier in the tournament this year.
India may be ahead against Pakistan in ICC tournaments by an 8-2 margin, but in all ODI tournament finals Pakistan holds a 6-2 edge in the head-to-head battle against India. Pakistan have managed to bounce back in this tournament, defeating South Africa and Sri Lanka in the group stages and England in the semi-finals to book a berth in the final.
With Pakistan's front-line pacer Mohammad Amir declared fit to play in the final after sitting out the previous match, he alongside new ball bowler Junaid Khan will be the key against India to provide their side with early breakthroughs. Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed will also look to use his team's bowling strength to do the damage against an in-form Indian batting line-up.
The spin duo of Imad Wasim and Mohammad Hafeez alongside medium-pacer Rumman Raees -- who made his debut in the semi-finals -- will look to provide depth and variation to the Pakistan bowling line-up. The batting department for Pakistan under the likes of opener Azhar Ali and Fakhar Zaman followed by Babar Azam and Mohammad Hafeez will look to flourish against India having got to good starts in the previous matches but failing to build lethal partnerships.
India, on the other side have looked a balanced side with both their batting and bowling departments having managed to click throughout the tournament. India opener Shikhar Dhawan is the tournament's leading run scorer with 317 runs in four matches and will look to continue his momentum against Pakistan.
In-form Indian batsmen Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni have also helped their side look capable enough of chasing any target. The bowling department for India under the likes of pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin have looked solid bowling economically while providing clinical breakthroughs.
Captain Kohli will also look to use off-break spinner Kedar Jadhav -- who took two vital wickets in his previous match against Bangladesh -- alongside Hardik Pandya to deceive the Pakistan batsmen. (with agency inputs)
