When India and Pakistan advanced into separate sides of the ICC Champions Trophy semi-final bracket, it seemed destiny that they would both win and face off in what is set to be one of the more anticipated cricket matches in recent history. The final will be played from The Oval, in London, kicking off at 7.30pm Sunday night.
The rivalry between the two nations transcends cricket and results from over 60 years of conflict after the Partition of British India divided what was then known as British India into the two countries as they stand today.
The history makes every time these two nations meet a metaphorical blood bath and this Saturday’s clash will be no different.
India have opened as strong favourites for the clash, however, Pakistan have played as underdogs for the better part of a decade now and have become accustomed to taking down better sides in big games.
The strength of the Pakistani team lies in their bowling unit. They were able to hold Sri Lanka to 236 in their final pool game before containing England, who hadn’t scored under 300 in a full-length match, to 211 in the semi-final. Hasan Ali leads the tournament with 10 wickets at an average of 17.20 and is getting great support from Junaid Khan who has 7 wickets.
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On the other side, it’s been India’s batting line-up that have carried them through the tournament so far. Their opening partnership of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma are No.1 and No.2 in runs scored in the tournament so far while Captain Virat Kohli has looked in ominous form in 5th place with 253 runs.
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The one issue they might have is the form of their middle-lower order, the Indians have only lost 12 wickets throughout their four games and the likes of Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya have limited time in the middle.
However, if Dhawan, Sharma and Kohli can see out the majority of the overs in this match, it’s almost inevitable that the Indians will score close to if not over 300. We saw even when the Pakistani’s held Sri Lanka to 236, it wasn’t a sure thing for Pakistan, who passed the mark 7 wickets down and gave plenty of chances.
India seems to have far too much firepower here and too much bowling experience dealing with the long stretch in the middle overs to tie down the Pakistani batting line-up.
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