ICC Champions Trophy
Indo-Pak cricket war today
Strong batting line-up makes India favourites
Syed Mohammed Pithu from The Oval, London
The cultural twists, political turn; the history of the fierce battle reaches a crescendo as traditional rivals India and Pakistan battles at The Oval to take the ICC Champions Trophy to the home today. At least one-sixth of Earths population will be following the game, always considered as crunch contest because of the fierce rivalry. Even though there are so many memorable games that take the cricket lovers down to the memory lane, this is only the second final between the two sides in the ICC event after the first World T20 in 2007. History suggests the Indo-Pak cricket clash was never confined in just a mere game as the passion is palpable. The war-like situation is created not only in the two countries but also in the whole world which indeed split into two sides on the eve of the occasion.
However when the battle between the two in the global event is taken into the consideration, India have the clear upperhand.
India have won every World Cup match between these two countries, six straight times in ICC ODI World Cup and five times in a row in World T20. Though the match in the first World T20 final will be considered as tie since
India won that in a bowl out system after the both teams ended in same scores.
Pakistan avoided that shambolic record in Champions Trophy in which they have won twice in four matches though not in this edition, as they were pulverised in the qualifying game at Edgbaston by 124 runs. Yet again, India have to be favourites, their batting so much more reliable, their bowling not far short in variety and ingenuity.
But again favourite tag doesnt have any merit in India-Pakistan clash. There is history that even a weaker India team beat Pakistan while the same goes for Pakistan also.
Pakistan were not the force to be reckoned with initially while defending champions India came to the tournament as hot favourites. After beating Pakistan convincingly, India stumbled to Sri Lanka by eight wickets despite amassing 321 runs on the board. That was reality check for them. Virat Kohli made a harsh criticism towards his teammates and that seemed to work well as India clawed back in style afterwards, crushing South Africa in do or die match by eight wickets and humiliated Bangladesh by nine wickets in the semifinal.
Pakistan also regrouped well after the defeat against India as they beat mighty South Africa by 19 runs and Sri Lanka by three wickets in unofficial semifinal. But their biggest moment came in the semifinal when they outclassed tournament favourite England by eight wickets.
The fact is the last eight games in this tournament have been won by the side batting second. This world tournament, though, has a long way to go before it can be viewed as influential as the first between India and Pakistan, which was in the T20 format. That game, on Sept 24, 2007, was one of the most important cricket matches ever and, 10 years on, there are five survivors in Indias Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and Pakistans Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik.
India though start as overwhelmingly favourite, the new look Pakistan could take an inspiration from the fact that Indian middle order remain largely untested. Their top three bated so well that the latter batsmen needed not to bat in the four matches India played in the tournament. If Pakistan could expose Indias middle order, they could sneak a chance.
However as former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh pointed out, India also has a great head-to-head record against Pakistan in ICC tournaments, so that will surely play on everyones mind. Indias team is young, confident and will be raring to go on Sunday at The Oval and Pakistan will have to put in one hell of a shift against them.
