Former Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed, who lifted the ICC Champions Trophy for his nation in 2017, recalled how, after a shocking start to their 8-year old journey, the Pakistani players sat together and were aided by the seniors before the final match against their arch-rivals India. Pakistan sprung one of the greatest shocks in modern cricket in 2017 when, in a title decider match at The Oval, they defeated India by a staggering margin of 180 runs in a 339-run chase. This was the third significant triumph for Pakistan in (white-ball) tournaments, following the 1992 ICC World Cup victory in a 50-overs format and the 2009 win in T20 World Cup tournaments.
Pakistan, unlike the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup or Men’s T20 World Cup in which India has a high advantage over Pakistan, leads with 3-2 over it in the Champions Trophy.
Their campaign started on a low note, however, as they mapped out a way forward by losing 124 runs against powerful India, with the batting efforts from Rohit Sharma (91), Shikhar Dhawan (68), and Virat Kohli (81) proving vital before the bowlers wrapped up the task.
Sarfaraz recollected how senior players Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez helped the team regroup after the loss, what he feels the current Pakistan side will need as well.
“After the loss to India in the group stage, we had a great team meeting, and some of our senior guys – Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez – all said their piece. You need those types of characters around you. From that day onwards, the mindset changed. It was something we needed to go through, and it was good for the team. We made a few changes, and that boosted our confidence,” the former captain mentioned as quoted by ICC.
After a defeat to India, Pakistan sharply turned their fortunes with victories against South Africa, Sri Lanka, and England leading to the finals.
While the inclusion of Fakhar Zaman brought additional substance and aggression to the top after his debut match against South Africa during the group stages, Junaid Khan and Rumman Raees ensured control and provided wickets with the new ball as they took to the field in the semi-final against England-which Pakistan won by eight wickets.
“We played England in the semi-finals and our bowlers were just superb,” Sarfaraz recalled. “Then it was to be India in the finals. I was just confident that we were at a high level-and I told the boys before the match: relax.”
Pakistan had a fairytale day against their neighbours in the finals, when Fakhar Zaman’s outstanding century saw them to a defendable total before Mohammad Amir tore through India’s top order to give them their historic win.
“We knew we had beaten some of the best teams so India was nothing we had not seen,” Sarfaraz discussed the mindset of the team before the contest.
“I told the boys to take it easy and to forget the result and just give it their hundred percent.”
“The rest is history. When I took the last catch and we won, it is impossible to describe that feeling in words. When I took the last catch, I was at gully, and I just ran. I saw Shoaib Malik, and I ran into his arms, I jumped onto him and hugged him. The whole team then jumped in. It was indescribable,” he concluded.
