Miracle of Oval

GROUND REALITY

“How important is that?” asks Ganguly as Azhar Ali  spills out a sitter off Amir’s bowling during the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy. The edge came off the bat of arguably the best batsman in the world: the Indian captain, Virat Kohli.

In comes Amir again, charging in like a hungry lion towards a herd of wildebeest, the blood of Sharma’s wicket dripping from his teeth.

“In the air... gone... not that important. He’s gone the next ball. Brilliant from Amir”, screamed Nasser Hussain, a timely response was provided to Ganguly’s query.

Young Shadab Khan took a simple looping catch at point, much to the relief of Azhar Ali and millions of Pakistanis across the world.

The top three Indian batsmen accounted for much of the success enjoyed by their team throughout the tournament. And, in a moment of sheer madness, Amir had removed two of them, Kohli almost twice.

Dhawan was still there and was joined by Yuvraj Singh. Indian batting lineup is stacked with match winners and can chase a bullet train on their day, but this was not one of those days.

Amir was brimming with confidence and why not, he was at the top of his game in one of the biggest matches of his career, and he was not done yet. Removing Dhawan was the killer bite, irrecoverable... allowing the likes of Hasan Ali, the leading wicket taker in the tournament, and Shadab Khan to make easy work of the middle order.

Shadab Khan took the wicket of Yuvraj and Hasan Ali removed the elegant MS Dhoni and India were 54-5 chasing 339.

Amir had provided the glimpse of this spell last year in the Asian T20 Championship when he decided to win the match all on his own and removed Sharma, Rahane and Raina during a spell only he can produce; Kohli survived a massive lbw appeal that day.

There was no way Amir was going to let Kohli or anyone else to take the glory away from him this time.

Amir and Co. were lucky enough to be defending a huge total, thanks to the heroics of another youngster Fakhar Zaman, the centurion in the final the man who startled everyone with his superb batting throughout the Champions Trophy. It was easy to forget that the hard hitting left-hander was playing his first series for Pakistan.

Fakhar Zaman was not the only player who made his debut for Pakistan in the Champions Trophy. In fact, there were as many as three debutants, including left arm bowler Rumman Raees and the hard hitting all-rounder Fahim Ashraf.

Fahim Ashraf, in a warmup match against Bangladesh, prior to the actual tournament, played an absolute blinder to snatch the most unlikely of victories even by Pakistan’s standards.

Fahim’s big chance came against Sri Lanka but he was unlucky to get run-out in a very unfortunate manner. Rumman, meanwhile, replaced the almost indispensable Muhammad Amir in the all-important semi-final clash against England. The debutant did not disappoint and played a crucial role in dismissing the hosts for a paltry total of 211, which was chased down by Pakistan with the utmost ease.

In the final also, the openers Azhar Ali and Fakhar Zaman provided a steady platform for the rest to pile up the runs. Hafeez, playing at an unfamiliar batting position, scored a brisk half century to get Pakistan to a commanding total.

Sarfaraz’s aggressive captaincy was refreshing to watch and gave the nation of cricket fanatics a reason to start believing again. And when it really mattered he, along with Amir, batted Pakistan out of trouble against the Sri Lankan team.

The victory in the final was no fluke as in the previous three matches Pakistan trounced the Proteas, the Lankans and the tournament favourites, the host, the mighty England!

This was a massive comeback as the manner in which they lost their opening game against India, Pakistan seemed destined to become the first team to exit the tournament; instead, they bulldozed their way to glory and claimed their first ever Champions Trophy title.