No special training but Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri helped Pakistan to win Champions Trophy 2017

Pakistan posted a mammoth total of 338 runs. In return, the defending champions were restricted to 158 runs with 19 overs to spare and lost the game by 180 runs

By: Aakash Biswas |
October 13, 2017 6:55 pm

On June 18, 2019, the Pakistan Cricket Team scripted history after beating their arch-rivals India in the ICC Champions Trophy held in England and Wales. They were the 8th ranked nation in the 8-team world tournament and defeated the one whom they lost against in the league phases. Newly elected skipper Sarfaraz Khan became the first Pakistani skipper to lift the Champions Trophy. And recently it was revealed by the winning team that it were the Indians who helped them reach this feat.

“India wrote us off in the final,” Cricbuzz quoted Talat Ali, former Pakistan Test cricketer and Manager of Pakistan current Pakistan Cricket Team, as saying.

I was listening to the analysis of Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri and they gave us no chance. That fired up the boys. It was called a no-contest and we were written off. We said let the bat and ball do the talking.

Ahead of the finals, former Indian cricketers and commentators Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar were sure that India will beat Pakistan easily and take the title home for the second time in a row. However, the final results stunned the world.

India won the toss and elected to bowl first. With Fakhar Zaman’s maiden ODI hundred, Pakistan posted a mammoth total of 338 runs. In return, the defending champions were restricted to 158 runs with 19 overs to spare and lost the game by 180 runs.

Ali further said,

With our strong bowling attack, once we put a decent total on the board, it was going to be tough for India. We had quite a bit of luck. Difficult to figure out why India put us in after winning the toss.

Ali also encouraged the India vs Pakistan matches to happen more often in future. He said,

I am told that television channels rate India – Pakistan clash as the third biggest in the world. Football obviously takes the top spot. The coverage of that game in Pakistan was tremendous and I am sure that was the same case in India. I hope we play regularly so that the tension goes off. The more cricket we play, the better it will be. I hope the bilateral series resumes soon.

India is currently facing Australia in a three-match T20I series while Pakistan faces Sri Lanka in a five-match ODI series.

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