ICC Champions Trophy 2017

    Pakistan's cricketers have been named ICC Champions Trophy winners after a triumphant victory over India at the Oval, beating the 2013 victors by a whopping 180 runs.

    Prior to the tournament, England, Australia, India and South Africa were all deemed to be among the favourites, but Pakistan upset the odds with some magnificent play.

    All-rounder Hasan Ali was arguably the star of the show, putting in consistently strong performances and picking up three wickets in the final to secure the trophy. 

    On the day, though, it was Hasan Ali and Fakhar Zaman who made the difference. Zaman put up 114 runs in the final, helping to put the game out of reach, while Hasan’s bowling disrupted India’s batting all day.
     

    How did Pakistan’s turnaround happen?

    ICC Champions Trophy 2017

    Pakistan started the tournament in horrible fashion, losing by 124 runs to a rampant India team led by Rohit Sharma’s total of 91.

    However, such losses weren't too surprising at the time. Fans and the media expected India to overpower Pakistan, which makes the turnaround in the final so impressive.

    Simply put, Pakistan would not back down, and beat South Africa, Sri Lanka and England on their way to the trophy. Hasan Ali’s form picked up after the opening game, leading to him eventually being named player of the tournament, while Zaman and others all played crucial roles.

    However, it was perhaps the team’s spirit that was most impressive. After being written off by the media following their first game, they stuck together and played some wonderful cricket in crucial moments.

    After all, it looked like Pakistan would be out at the quarter-final stage. At 162/7 and chasing Sri Lanka’s total of 236, it looked out of their reach until their batsmen found a way to claw back and take the game by three wickets.

    What happened to England and the other favourites?

    ICC Champions Trophy 2017

    Were Pakistan simply too good, or do some of the pre-tournament favourites need to go back to the drawing board?

    It’s probably a combination of the two.

    It seemed like plain-sailing for England, who came into their semi-final against Pakistan as confident favourites after Joe Root and Ben Stokes starred for them in big wins over Bangladesh, Australia and New Zealand.

    Stokes racked up 102 not out against Australia, while Jake Ball’s fast bowling proved to be too much for most batsmen. The Aussies in particular will be disappointed with their performances and let a strong innings from Travis Head fall apart on their way to a 40 run loss.

    Unfortunately for England, they were not expecting such a marvellous performance from Pakistan, who were led by a pair of half-centuries from Zaman and Azhar Ali and won by eight wickets.

    South Africa were knocked out by India after putting in a woeful performance that saw them lose by eight wickets. At times in the Champions Trophy, South Africa looked sluggish and seemed a class apart from India, who were perhaps unlucky to come up against such a defiant Pakistan team.

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