PAKISTAN FOCUS
Pakistan started their campaign with a huge loss against India and at that stage, not many would have seen them reaching the final of the tournament.
On the back of some sublime bowling performances, the Men in Green have overcome the odds and have made the Champions Trophy final for the first time. In their last three games, they have restricted South Africa (219-8), Sri Lanka (236 all out), and England (211 all out) to low totals which shows how good their bowling has been.
Hasan Ali has been key to Pakistan’s run to the final and is currently the highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 10 wickets to his name. Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed has saved Hasan’s overs for the latter part of the opposition’s innings and the strategy has worked like a treat.
When it comes to the batting, the inclusion of Fakhar Zaman in the playing eleven has given the Pakistan team a huge boost at the top of the order as he has got them off to quick starts with the bat. Having made his ODI debut in the game against South Africa, he has a strike rate of 117.94 from three matches.
INDIA FOCUS
Apart from the loss against Sri Lanka, India have looked very impressive in the tournament – winning the other three matches without having much concern.
On Thursday, in their semi-final clash against Bangladesh, the Men in Blue were utterly dominant as they won the game by nine wickets, chasing down a target of 265 with 59 deliveries remaining.
The form of the top three batsmen – Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli – has been very encouraging for the Indian team. Each one of them has scored over 250 runs in the tournament so far, with Dhawan and Rohit being the top two run-getters with 317 and 304 runs respectively.
The bowlers have also made a big contribution, especially the pace duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah who have been economical and haven’t let the opposition batsmen get off to quick starts.
DATE, TIME, VENUE INFO
Date: June 18, 2017 (Sunday)
Time: 13:30 GST, 10:30 local, 09:30 GMT, 15:00 IST, 14:30 PKT
Venue: Kennington Oval, London
WHERE TO WATCH, LIVE STREAMING INFO
TV: UAE – OSN Sports Cricket HD
Full coverage on Sport360.com.
CONFIRMED PAKISTAN XI: Azhar, Zaman, Babar, Hafeez, Malik, Sarfraz (c, wk), Imad, Shadab, Amir, Hasan, Junaid.
CONFIRMED INDIA XI: Rohit, Dhawan, Kohli (c), Yuvraj, Dhoni (wk), Jadhav, Pandya, Jadeja, Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar, Bumrah.
SPORT360 MATCH PREDICTION: With the experience in their team and the fact that they won the match between the two teams during the group stages, India go into the final as favourites. But as we’ve seen on multiple occasions in the tournament so far, you simply cannot rule out Pakistan before the start of a game.