I want to talk about our games in the champions trophy and as I was there for all of them from game 1 till the final. Let me give you my view on them:
Look back at the champions trophy in the first game against India. Hassan Ali dropped Virat Kohli at a very key moment in the game were at the time the game was balanced but of course dropping the Indian batsman once is alright but we dropped aplenty that day and alongside Yuvraj Singh, Virat and him went onto pulverise us. Lest we forget about Wahab Riaz being a usual spray gun that day. India made 319 with the top 4 all scoring half centuries and in the 5 deliveries he faced, Pandya slammed us for 3 sixes and what seems to be seen far too often whilst chasing a big score our batting had no game plan. We lost by over 120 runs. It was abysmal.
South Africa. 1 player turned up for them in David Miller and in the bowling department for us it was Hassan Ali. Hassan was Remarkable that day. If memory serves me correctly; Amir, Hafeez and Junaid got smacked up for more than 50 runs each and Hassan was the only one who used the pitch to his advantage. When the rain started coming down I don't know what on earth Babar and Hafeez were doing but praise the Lord Shoaib Malik had the right initiative and that 16* he had in like 13/14 deliveries with 3 fours was the key in a 19 run D/L victory whilst we were chasing 220 and if their was no rain. I honestly think we probably would have struggled a lot. Fakhar's Fireworks on his debut also helped a lot to the rain caused win.
Against Sri Lanka. Practical quarter final. Once again, Hassan Ali. Outstanding. Junaid Khan too was brilliant that day. Both of them took 6 wickets altogether and I think it was 3 each. Dickwella scored 70 odd and that contributed massively for Sri Lanka getting to 236. An opening partnership of 75 for us I thought we'll easily cruise to a win from there but 75-1 went too 160-7. Sarfaraz was dropped 3 times and I think Amir was dropped once too. Didn't even rain that day in Cardiff but even if the Lankans had super glue in their hands they wouldn't have caught anything purely because all the luck in the world was ours and I remember when the ball went up in the air the 3rd time whilst Sarfaraz was batting and I said he'll drop it which happened and I knew we'd pull it off because like I said. All the luck in the world was ours that day. Sri Lanka bottled that game differently with their fielding.
Semi final against England, The favourites. That has to be the most clinical Pakistani performance I have ever witnessed with my own 2 eyes when it comes to batting, bowling and fielding. Everything about us that day was sheer and utter world class. In Nasser Hussain's famous words against South Africa in the 2009 T20 World Cup semi final at Nottingham. "I think we've figured out which Pakistan have turned up today, It's the one to be afraid of." Englad had no chance.
The final against India. We all know what happened. Fakhar's magnificence, Curtsy of a Bumrah no ball. That is said and will always be said will be the moment which changed the game for Pakistan. But I always say, If he didn't overstep. Maybe it would have pitched elsewhere in terms of line or length I mean it wasn't an unplayable Yorker which he had delivered so you never know. In a high pressure final, Where a Pakistani bowling attack doesn't have to worry too much about getting hit for runs and an attack which had struck fear into the favourites in England the game before. It was always going to be difficult for India as great as their batting is.
Pakistan were very lucky in the most crucial periods of our 2 group games and I feel that is what favoured us the most. That being said in a tournament, You always need luck too.
In 1992, We got bowled out for 74 against England. England were 24/1. Thanks to rain they were chasing 64 and now Hypothetically, We lose. We'd have no chance of making it to the semi finals of the World Cup and curtsy of divine intervention the entire England innings was rained off after that so a point each had been shared.
So you can say generations have changed but the statements remain the same but the fact of the matter is, No matter what ODI tournament there is. World Cup, Champions Trophy, Asia cup. Pakistan needs luck on their side to pull off tournament wins. Because no matter how World class or extremely well skilled our players are, If it ain't their day. They ain't winning us anything.
