London: Baker Street, home to the famous fictional detective character Sherlock Holmes is only half-an-hour’s drive from the Oval which will host the ICC Champions Trophy final Sunday, between India and Pakistan. One will certainly need the investigative acumen of that great detective if India slip in the final, but at the moment, they look overwhelming favourites to retain the title they won in 2013. If they lose, then only may Holmes be called up to investigate the cause of the defeat.
Law of averages… it is one of cricket’s most dreaded terms. India would certainly hope that it does not catch up with them considering the all-win supremacy they have so far enjoyed against Pakistan in ICC-run tournaments. Since the inception of the World Cup and the T20 World Cup, Pakistan have never managed to defeat their arch rivals. They would certainly be hoping that for once the law of averages takes their side.
What augurs well for Pakistan is their form since they lost the first group game to India. Their turnaround reminds one of the 1992 World Cup when an Imran Khan-led side luckily qualified for the knockout stages after some disastrous defeats in the group games and then simply blew away New Zealand and England in the final.
The 2017 Champions Trophy for them has been a sort of similar tale. A loss against India, a rain-helped win against South Africa and suddenly the eighth-ranked side is in the final of the tournament. Not even their most ardent fans could have dreamt about such a comeback. But it is this unpredictability of Pakistan make them such a potent opponent in the final.
“I love that tag of ‘unpredictable’,” Mohammad Hafeez told reporters here Saturday. Well it is a fact that just by being unpredictable, Pakistan have made a mockery of the existing world order of cricket. India should be aware of this fact.
The way they have been playing the last 10 months or so, everyone expected India to sail into the final. Except for that brief hiccup against Sri Lanka, they have booked their berths with a dominance not usually seen in world cricket. The top three batters – Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have simply been awesome. And whenever the others have got the opportunity, they have delivered.
Bowling wise the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya have also come to the party. It has allowed Kohli, the luxury of playing an extra batsman – not that he really needed it. But the coming of age of these youngsters in the death overs has been a revelation for the Indian cricket aficionados. In both the games against South Africa and Bangladesh, it was these pacers along with the experienced Ravindra Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin who set up the win. The batsmen then had just to complete the formalities.
Many have termed this game as a battle between Indian batsmen and the Pakistan pace battery. Wrong. It is a game between a well-balanced Indian side comprising both in-form batsmen and bowlers, versus the Pakistan fast bowlers. The neighbours from the other side of the border has just two things to bank on… the law of averages and if luck helps them and the Indian batting suffers a meltdown. Even keeping in mind that cricket is a game of glorious ‘uncertainties’ one can safely predict that India start 80-20 favourites.
The great Neville Cardus once wrote: “We remember not the scores and the results in after years; it is the men who remain in our minds, in our imagination.” Well this is the chance for the likes of Hassan Ali, Mohammad Aamir, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and a few others to forever engrave their names in the minds and imaginations of the cricket crazy fans of both the countries. The time has arrived to play hard ball.
Pointers
India hold a 13-2 record against Pakistan in ICC events
The two sides last met in the final of an ICC event in 2007, India won the T20 Worlds beating Pakistan by 5 runs at Johannesburg
Overall Pakistan hold the advantage in 50 overs game winning 72 in comparison to India’s 52
