With the Champions Trophy starting next week, hosts Pakistan will be looking back at their 2017 Champions Trophy triumph as an inspiration to win the ICC tournament once again and win the trophy as defending champions. In 2017, the Sarfaraz Ahmed led Pakistan team had scored a ten-wicket win over arch rivals India in the final of the Champions Trophy at the Oval to score their third win over India in the tournament’s history and Ahmed has recalled the final win as ‘indescribable’.
“We played England in the semi-finals and our bowlers were just superb. Then, it was India in the final. I was just confident our level was very high and my message to the players ahead of the final was to relax. We knew we had beaten some of the best teams, so India was nothing we had not seen. The rest is history. When the last wicket went down and we won, it is impossible to describe that feeling in words. When I took the last catch, I was at gully. And I just ran. I saw Shoaib Malik and ran into his arms, I jumped into him and hugged him. The whole team then joined in. It was indescribable,” Ahmed told the ICC website.
The Mohammad Rizwan led Pakistan side will open their campaign in Champions Trophy with their opening match against New Zealand at National Stadium in Karachi. In the 2017 Champions Trophy, Pakistan had suffered a 124-run loss against India in their opening match at Birmingham. It was a match, which saw Pakistan bowling attack consisting of Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Wahab Riaz struggle against Indian top order followed by their batting unit failure. Ahmed recalled how senior players Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez motivated the team. “Afterwards, we had a great team meeting, and some of our senior guys – Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez – all said their piece. You need those types of characters around you. We changed our mindset from that day. The acrimony was very good for us, we made a couple of changes to the team and it helped our confidence,” Ahmed said further.
Pakistan have recalled opener Fakhar Zaman in the final squad for Champions Trophy. Zaman had scored a hundred in the final against India at the Oval and has made a return to the Pakistan ODI in recent weeks. Ahmed urged the Pakistan team to stay calm while playing against India in Dubai February 23.
“Whenever we meet, it is a special occasion and there is so much hype and pressure around it. But as players, you need to stay calm, try and block that noise out, and just play with the same intensity as you would play Australia or any other team. Pakistan has a really good chance of defending that title and I think they have a strong team. Some of the boys from 2017 are still there and we’re talking about some of the best – especially Babar Azam. He is a different Babar to the one that played in 2017, a more mature player and a dominant player in the game. His batting will be so important for Pakistan and so will Fakhar Zaman’s batting. With the ball, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf are brilliant bowlers and are playing well. The captain, Mohammad Rizwan, is also a wicketkeeper-batter, which worked pretty well for me back in 2017!” said Ahmed.
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