Not many had backed Pakistan to go beyond the group stage in the Champions Trophy, but the team led by Sarfraz Ahmed enjoyed an extraordinary revival after its disastrous opener.
In October 2015, this Pakistan side only just made it into the tournament as one of the top eight teams in the world given just days after the cut off point they were beaten by Zimbabwe and slipped to ninth.
It will require some serious batting performance from Virat Kohli & Co to overcome the target.
Pakistan produced a story for the ages as they defied all pre-tournament predictions and thrashed their much-fancied rivals, India, to win the Champions Trophy.
Together with Azhar Ali (59), he put on 128 for the first wicket - Pakistan's highest opening stand against India in an ICC tournament - and it took a run out to separate them as Fakhar was guilty of ball-watching. His blitzkrieg of an innings (114 from 106 balls) set the tone for the match, and India failed to recover from this big blow altogether.
India's batsman of the tournament and their best bet to ace this chase was back in the hut, with India struggling big time at 33 for 3.
There was no looking back after that and was liberal help from all the Indian bowlers, who erred in length, gave away needless extras to release the pressure completely.In humid conditions and on flattest of decks, Kohli chose to field first but his bowlers did not do justice to the faith he had shown in them. Only this time, he chose to field two spinners - Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
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Pandya, however, briefly raised their spirits with a quickfire 76, reaching his fifty with three successive sixes off Shadab and hitting six maximums in all before he was run out.
Shoaib Malik only made 12 but Babar Azam was in fine fickle to contribute 46 as Pakistan kept the scoreboard ticking over at a substantial rate.
He was completely unplayable with the new ball, which he swung both ways, to trap the likes of Rohit Sharma and Skikhar Dhawan. Captain Virat Kohli also left early leaving Indian fans disappointed.
Amir hurled swinging deliveries in Kohli's "corridor of uncertainty", each of which would've gone on to hit the fourth stump. "Amir bowled brilliantly today but all my bowlers bowled really well".
Earlier, put in to bat, Pakistan put on board 338 for 4 in the stipulated 50 overs. However, they never really got off the blocks in the second innings.
India should have had a wicket when Fakhar was caught behind off Jasprit Bumrah on three. Junaid Khan also chipped in with a wicket. Things could well have turned out to be completely different, had Pandya had a specialist batsman at the other end.
Widely written off after an abject display in their opening group match against the same opponents, the lowest-ranked team going into the tournament suddenly rediscovered their mojo.




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