June 18, 2018.The ICC Champions Trophy Final: India vs Pakistan.The sun beating down on a warm June Oval afternoon.A sea of blue covering all the sides of this oval ground. In between one could see some green waves resonate with a flurry. This sea of blue were the Indian cricket supporters who had engulfed this famous ground in anticipation of defending their crown which they won at Edgbaston 4 years earlier. The Greenshirts were stark underdogs and had never come this far in this trophy, let alone win it. If one went with the pre game hype,the writing was on the wall.
For the Greenshirts, it was a slow start. In the corresponding fixture with their arch rivals, they were convincingly walloped by 124 runs in their first pool match courtesy of poor fielding, bowling and a hapless batting which has become somewhat of a chronic factor. The majority of their fans had dismissed any further progress in the tourney considering they were lined up to meet No 1 ranked South Africa.The bowling however had other ideas.They defeated the next three teams they faced chasing paltry totals en route to the big finale.Among them,the hosts England who were favoured to win the whole thing.
Hasan Ali had played a leading role claiming 10 wickets to neutralise their batting handicaps.More was to come from him in the final.After game one , they had introduced the services of a diminutive make shift opener in Fakhar Zaman.He had been hovering around the domestic circuit for some time before landing himself a place in the PSL.Although lacking in much of a technique,there was no shortage of power as he hit 31 vs South Africa, 50 vs Lanka,57 vs England in his first three outings.He had left his best for last as he survived a caught behind on 3 on Jasprit Bumrah no ball. That cost India 111 more runs from him, as he piled 252 runs for the tourney.Fakhar scored 114,his maiden ton.
Moreover, the momentum changed that morning since that no ball dismissal. Azhar Ali who usually is more of a tentative accumulator albeit a measured 76 in the semi against England set the tone for Fakhar after taking the lead.He scored 57 in an opening of 128, a team best for the tournament, before crazily run out in mixup with the “Fauji”.Babar Azam started slow but accelerated to a 45.To everyone’s surprise Hafeez who was nearing a team expulsion for the umpteenth time,hit a brisk cameo of 56 as the Greenshirts launched into their top total batting first against India of 338.
Still there would have been few who have thought the vaunted Indian batting lineup would not make a match of it.Enter, Mohammad Amir. The villain of the past.A guy looking for penitance, a way to wash off cricketing sins. Such a cricketing purgatory for a Greenshirt can only be found in performing against the arch rival and to do it in the final…. Oh the cleansing couldn’t have been purer.His spell read 6-2-16-3 and those figures will now be etched in history at the Oval.He took Sharma off the ripper on the 3rd ball of the innings for nought.He then had Kohli in all sorts of problems, the drop of Azhar was redeemed on 5 with the very next ball swallowed by Shadab at point.The form batsman of the tourney, Shikhar Dhawan was the trifecta with a caught behind executed off a ball keeping straight for 21.Amir had the top three in the pavilion at just 33 with a “Wasimesque” like final spell.
Yuvraj hung around for 22 before trapped beautifully on Shadab’s DRS plea coming to aid. Dhoni didn’t last long after against the Golden Ball winner Hasan ” generator” Ali as did Kedhar against the leggie.Hardik Pandya has been a rising star for Team Blue via the Ipl and showed resistance with a quickfire 76 before tragically run out by Ravindra Jadeja.Junaid had the culprit dismissed not long after.Hasan cleaned up the tail for another 3 for and the innings was dusted in 30.3 overs for 158. It was a win of magnanimous proportions for Greenshirts , a whopping record between the two sides in ODIs of 180 runs.
But if numerically the win was registered as a historic, it was massive for other reasons.Ranked eighth and almost having missed out on qualifying for this tourney the odds were for an early exit. The Jokes were they finish on June 12 against Lanka and on June 13 they will be back at Lahore airport facing an angry mob. It couldn’t have been more contrasting.They now seal qualification for the 2019 world cup and more importantly have boosted their odds of hosting home cricket in close to a decade.Certainly the PSL which has now been recognised as a big factor in moulding this success. Fakhar claimed the man of the match, as Hasan took the man of the tourney award to add to the Golden Ball. Sarfraz Ahmad, the toast of all the nation,has now led his team to a success in his 1st major tourney attempt.He had skippered the junior side in 2006 against the same opposition to a world cup win as well.Richly deserved kudos resonated from his home of Buffer zone to all parts of the country soon after his arrival.
Could anyone have expected this ? Nope… It was a long shot but then that’s Greenshirts for you.It still feels after 4 weeks like a Midsummer day’s dream.The euphoria will still continue for long, I’m sure.
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