In the days leading up to this final between India and Pakistan, experts and fans went back to the first game between these two sides on June 4th. The balance that India possessed in their side and the unpredictability of the Pakistani side seemed like a miss-match and many felt that India would walk to the title. Pakistan scripted a completely different story as they continued their brilliant run since their loss to India in their first game of the Champions Trophy. They proved that great bowling can stop a dangerous batting unit like India’s. Their performance today was completely overwhelming and were dominated by Pakistan in the big final.

India won the toss and as has been the norm in the tournament, Virat Kohli decided to have a bowl. The proceedings weren’t easy for the Indian bowlers from the offset. Bhuvneshwar Kumar started off with a maiden, but that was about as much joy the bowlers would have in the first half of the innings. Azhar Ali and Fakhar Zaman took the attack to the bowlers. They lived dangerously, but kept the scoreboard ticking at a good clip.

In the fourth over, bowled by Bumrah, he bowled a good length delivery around off stump that nipped away slightly. Fakhar Zaman went for a flamboyant drive, but got a faint nick through to Dhoni, who snapped up the ball with ease. The Indians began to celebrate, but the on-field umpire wanted to be absolutely sure about Bumrah’s front leg, and called upon the third umpire. To the horror of Indian fans, the front leg was just over the crease. Fakhar Zaman returned to the crease and the rest, in simple words, turn into something that will be written in Pakistan’s history books.

After receiving the life, Zaman went about freeing his arms and bringing out some attacking strokes. Azhar Ali took some time to get going, but played a few uncharacteristic shots. He seemed itchy at the crease and in the constant search for runs off strokes one wouldn’t associate him with. Luck was on the side of the two Pakistani openers as some of their miscued hits fell into no man’s land on a few occasions.

With the pacers unable to bring about the first breakthrough, Kohli was forced to turn to his experienced spinner. Ravichandran Ashwin was introduced in the eighth over of the innings. He looked rather rusty, as he bowled a couple of wides and was dispatched for a maximum by Azhar Ali in the same over. Kumar on the other hand, bowled another maiden over by keeping Fakhar Zaman on his toes throughout the ninth over.

India had received a couple of opportunities to run the openers out, but their throws weren’t finding the woodwork. Ali and Zaman punished the bad balls and played some brave cricket even after the end of the mandatory Powerplay. Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja were brought into the attack in succession. The duo started off with a few good overs, but the first wicket still evaded the Indian team.

Zaman decided to take Jadeja’s threat away by going after him in the 20th over. He smashed Jadeja for two boundaries, both of them cuts through point and brought up his third consecutive half-century, a ball after Azhar Ali got to his. Zaman became the first Pakistani batsman to score three 50-plus scores in his first four innings for the country in ODIs.

The Pakistani openers brought up their second successive century stand, a rarity for the team who have tried numerous opening partnerships in the last few years. The running between the wickets wasn’t the best between Ali and Zaman, and the latter paid the price for it in the final ball of the 23rd over. Ali tucked the ball to mid-wicket and Bumrah got to the ball with a dive. Ali ran across to the non-striker’s end which Zaman refused to leave. Ali was stranded and Bumrah threw the ball to Dhoni who completed an easy run out.

India were relieved to break the opening stand, and tried their best to make further inroads. Babar Azam didn’t receive much strike after striding out to bat. Fakhar Zaman though, continued in aggressive fashion and cracked a six and two fours in the 26th over to rush into the 70s. He got into the 80s without wasting much time, taking Ashwin on for a biggie and a four in the following over. While Babar was still getting to terms with the surface, Zaman entered the nineties with a risky hook that he gloves over Dhoni, off Hardik Pandya’s bumper.

Pakistan maintained a run-rate of around six till the 30-over mark. Zaman played a pre-mediated sweep off Ashwin in the 31st over to get to a remarkable, maiden ODI ton. The satisfying bit for Zaman is that he brought up the century in the most important game of the tournament. He didn’t stop trying to get the big shots away after his hundred, smoking a six into the stands off Ashwin in the 33rd over. Pandya brought about an end to Zaman’s enthralling innings in the 34th over. Zaman tried to smear the ball into the crowd but top-edged it beyond point. Jadeja ran like a hare and took a splendid catch.

Shoaib Malik joined Babar Azam and the latter opened up his shoulders now that Zaman was no longer with him. He hit a couple of boundaries, ensuring that the momentum didn’t shift to India’s side. Pandya’s good work until now was all undone by a few fearless strokes by Azam. Shoaib Malik seemed busy and blasted Jadeja for a six. With wickets still hard to come by, Kohli decided to hand the ball to the man who fetched him two wickets against Bangladesh in the death overs – Kedar Jadhav. The part-timer did his job and made shot-making hard for the Pakistanis.
Kumar who has improved his death bowling was hard to get away as well. Shoaib Malik looked to back away and smack the ball, but Kumar followed him with a bouncer and he threw his bat at it blindly. The ball went into the deep on the off side and Yuvraj claimed the catch. Mohammd Hafeez was in a belligerent mood right from the start, as he smashed Jadeja for four off his very first delivery.

Hafeez continued to pick up boundaries frequently, as Jadhav’s floater led to Azam’s downfall. He chipped the ball to long off where Yuvraj took yet another catch, to send Azam back to the hut on 46. With the deth overs in full swing, Bumrah was brought on to bowl. He got the Yorkers and the changes in pace going right away and bowled a decent over on his return. Jadhav just got one more over as he was badgered for a six each by Hafeez and Imad Wasim.

Hafeez kept on hitting the ball hard, dispatching Bhuvneshwar Kumar into the stands in the 46th over. The bowling got better from India as they hit the right lengths – Yorkers and low full tosses. After Imad Wasim hit a boundary off Bumrah in the 47th over and the next big shot came only in rhe final over. Kumar bowled an excellent 48th over and Bumrah followed it up with a tight 49th. Kumar bowled the final over and conceded just 8 runs albeit a six. Pakistan finished on a massive 338/4 in their 50 overs. It was never going to be easy for India from here even though they have chased several 300-plus targets in the recent past. What they were looking for is another fiery start from their top order.

The chase began on a gloomy note for India, as they lost their centurion from the semi-final, Rohit Sharma on a duck. Amir bowled a lively first over which turned out to be greatly successful. Kohli and Dhawan were united early in the innings, but the bowling was very precise from Mohammad Amir and Junaid Khan. On the third delivery of the third over, Kohli edged one outside the off stump towards Ali at first slip. The former Pakistani skipper made a mess of the catch and spilled it. Amir was clearly unhappy, but didn’t lose heart. He ran in and bowled an angled delivery across the off stump, which Kohli looked to flick. A leading edge took the ball scurrying to cover-point and Shadab Khan made no mistake. Pakistan got two early breakthroughs, the wickets of two in-form batsmen, and brought Yuvraj in to bat earlier than usual.

The other in-form batsmen, Shikhar Dhawan eased the early pressure slightly by picking up a couple of boundaries in the fifth over. Yuvraj played with a defensive mind-set, in the attempt to build a rescuing partnership. Dhawan middle a few more boundaries off Junaid Khan in the eighth over. Dhawan’s stay was short-lived though, as he nicked a smart cross-seamer from Amir through to Sarfraz Ahmed in the ninth over. MS Dhoni came in to bat at number 5 with India in deep trouble.

Yuvraj Singh got going in the tenth over as he played three gorgeous shots off Mohammad Hafeez in his first over. He started off with a flowing shot that went over mid-on, to the fence. The second blow was in the same direction, and a half-stop from the fielder at mid-on couldn’t keep the ball from going away to the fence. The third boundary was a powerfully struck cut through cover. Once again though, the joy was not long lasting. Shadab Khan, the leggie, set Yuvraj up with some intelligent bowling. He beat Yuvraj with a googly and followed it up with a conventional leg-spinner that had Yuvraj in doubt. He didn’t bring his bat enough in front and the ball struck his pad. The appeal was turned down by the umpire, but Shadab was convinced that it was very close and prompted Sarfraz to take the review. The ball pitched in line, hit in line and would’ve hit the middle stump. The decision was over-turned and Yuvraj had to walk back.

MS Dhoni followed Yuvraj after his pull shot went lapping into the hands of Imad Wasim at deep mid-wicket. India had lost half their side and they were looking at the bottom of an empty, dark drum. Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya got together and ensured that they didn’t let go of loose deliveries. The partnership was broken when Jadhav mistimed a pull shot that went straight-up and nowhere far. Sarfraz Ahmed ran in from his position towards cover and took an easy catch.

Hardik Pandya was joined by Ravindra Jadeja, and the big-hitter didn’t lose hope. He took it upon himself to score the big hits and went about it in fine style. Pandya played a magnificent upper cut off Hasan Ali that smoothly went off the face of his bat to the fence, behind the keeper. Shadab Khan became the victim of Pandya’s first maximum, one of many to come. Imad Wasim was treated with respect as he bowled a tight first over, the 20th of the innings.

A couple of tight overs later, Hardik Pandya cut loose and how! He went 6, 6, 6 off Shadab Khan to get to his half-century – one that came off just 32 balls. His knock was the fastest fifty in an ICC tournament’s final, going past Adam Gilchrist’s 33-ball half-century in the 2007 World Cup final. Ravindra JAdeja was playing perfect second fiddle, as he constantly turned the strike over to Hardik.

After the manic over off Shadab that went for 23 runs, Pandya gave Fakhar Zaman similar treatment as he bludgeoned him for consecutive sixes to end the 26th over. Hardik had gotten to 76 runs off just 43 balls in which he had hit 6 sixes – the most in an innings in this Champions Trophy. His inning came to a sad ending, as a very bad misunderstanding lead to Pandya’s run out. He was livid and one would feel that Jadeja should have sacrificed his wicket and let the well-set Pandya carry on and take India closer.

From there on, there was no looking back for Pakistan as the tail fell apart soon. Jadeja fell in the very next over after Pandya’s run out, and Ashwin fell in the next. India’s innings folded up in 30.3 overs and Pakistan won by 180 runs in the end. It ended up being India’s worst loss by runs against Pakistan, in ODIs. Sadly, both the India-Pakistan clashes ended up being one-sided encounters – the first one going India’s way and the second, the bigger of the two games, being won by Pakistan. India shouldn’t be too upset with their overall performance in the Champions Trophy. They have played some excellent cricket. They have batted and bowled well in most of the games, but the former didn’t live up to its reputation in the final. India travel to West Indies for a limited overs series in a few days’ time.