Everything comes to a standstill when India and Pakistan are involved in a cricket match. With India set to face Pakistan in the Champions Trophy 2017 Final in London on Sunday, June 18, the mother of all cricket matches has been taken to another level.
Defending champions India had come into the competition as one of the favourites, and seeing them in the final does not come as a huge surprise. However, Pakistan, on the other hand, have been a huge surprise, especially after their massive loss to India in the round robin stages, which made their head-to-head record 2-2. The team, which emerges victorious in the final, will take a statistical lead as well.
After that Pakistan's loss against India, most of the experts had ruled them out, but the unpredictable Pakistan team played some good cricket to beat strong teams like South Africa and England en route to the final.
Hence, they come into this final all pumped to win their maiden Champions Trophy. India have been impressive throughout the competition, their only blip came against Sri Lanka.
With both teams is good form, this India vs Pakistan final has all the ingredients of a classic final. However, it is the players on the field with their skills, which can make this contest even more memorable.
This final could well be between India's batsmen vs Pakistan bowlers. India have some wonderful batsmen in Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli, and the trio has scored quality runs in the competition so far. They will be eager to get that run-scoring going in the Champions Trophy final.
But, the Pakistan bowlers are not going to make their life any easy. With Junaid Khan,who has dismissed Kohli three times in the past, Hassan Ali and Mohammad Amir all being world class bowlers, they will be eager to dismiss the Indian batsmen for cheap runs.
The best thing about the current Indian team is that their bowlers have it in them to win matches on their own, which was missing in the past. With Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and R Ashwin, they have a balanced attack to trouble any top batsmen in the world.
The new ball of pairing of Bhuvneshwar and Jasprit will be key to India as they need to dismiss in form Pakistan openers Fakhar Zaman and Azhar Ali, and get into the middle order early, who has not delivered much.
Both the teams have some experienced players, who are wonderful cricketers, and they will need to bring all their experience in the Champions Trophy final. There is always some pressure on India and Pakistan cricketers when they clash against one another, and this time being a final, it must have even multiplied.
Which team will handle pressure better - India or Pakistan in the Champions Trophy final?
When and where to watch live
India vs Bangladesh is set to begin at 10.30am BST, 3pm IST, 3.30pm Bangladesh time, 5.30am ET. TV and live streaming information is below.
India: TV: DD National, Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1HD (English, Hindi and Tamil versions). Live Streaming: Hotstar.
Pakistan: TV: PTV and Star Sports.
UK: TV: Sky Sports 2. Live Streaming: Sky Go and Watch Sky Sports.
USA: TV: Willow TV. Live Streaming: Willow TV Live Online.
New Zealand: TV: Sky Sport 1. Live Streaming: Sky Go NZ.
Australia: TV: Fox Sports. Live Streaming: Foxtel.
South Africa: TV: SuperSport 2. Live Streaming: SuperSport Live Video.
Middle East: TV: OSN Sports Cricket. Live Streaming: OSN Play.
Singapore: TV: Star Cricket.
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