Chandigarh: The India vs Pakistan Champions Trophy final on Sunday is set to create history as arch rivals India and Pakistan will be facing each other in the finals of the tournament for the very first time. If India wins it will become the first team to win the title for 3 years whereas Pakistan will don the title for the first time if it comes through with a win.
Both the teams are gearing up for the final match. The captains of both the teams, Virat Kohli of India and Sarfaraz Ahmed of Pakistan remain the much talked about players.
On the India side, inclusion of Hardik Pandya and Ravichandran Ashwin looks debatable along with Yuvraj Singh. Though Pandya’s bowling led to India losing the match against Sri Lanka, he can twist the tale of the match as an all rounder on his day. Ashwin is not seen in the form ever since the ending of the IPL season 2017. He and Yuvraj Singh are moving slowly to gain their form.
For Pakistan, the concern will be of the fitness of left-arm pace-ace, Mohammad Amir. If fit, he should replace Rumman Raees in the first eleven, with the rest of the players who played in the semi-finals against England selecting themselves.
Pakistani bowlers will try their best to pick wickets at regular intervals of time to rule out India from winning the match. Spinners, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan and Mohammad Hafeez should not be able to trouble the well in form Indian batsmen. The favorably performing pacers might weave a way for the Pakistani batsmen in the team replacing Imad and Shadab. The batting line up consisting of Azhar Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Hafeez, Shoaib Malik and Sarfaraz Ahmed have been known to crumble at the first sign of pressure appearing in the game.
Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Kohli seem to be in their best form. Virat Kohli is in a scintillating form and his will be the prized wicket for Pakistan to take. Following them will be MS Dhoni, Kedar Jhadav and Ravindra Jadeja- all capable of scoring briskly. As far as Indian bowling is concerned, the team will heavily rely on Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah. The middle order bowling with Jadeja in action will determine the course of the game.
Having won the the match against Pakistan in the group stage, Indian team will feel confident going into the match. Pakistanis are the clear underdogs in the game and they are expected to be charged up to fight back in the spirit of revenge that has always been a hallmark of India – Pakistan game.