With less than four days to go, when the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team faces arch-rivals Pakistan in a group match of the Champions Trophy in Dubai on February 23, hosts Pakistan will be taking inspiration from their 2017 final triumph against India. It was Pakistan’s first and remains Pakistan’s only win against India in an ICC tournament final to date. Pacer Hasan Ali, who was the player of the tournament with 13 wickets, recalled how the Sarfaraz Ahmed-led Pakistan team did not fear the then Virat Kohli-led Indian team ahead of the final at The Oval. “We as a team had no fear in the final. We had reached that situation where we were not seeing whom we were facing in the final. Our eyes were only on the trophy. A day before the final, Sarfaraz bhai told the whole team that it was his wish that the team get to wear the Champions blazer. The feeling is different from wearing that blazer. He gave us the example of how India and other teams achieved that in the past, and it’s his biggest wish now. And I am glad that each one of us played his part in that title triumph,” said Ali while speaking on the podcast Ultra Edge. The Gujranwala-born Ali came into the tournament a year after his ODI debut. Then, the 22-year-old picked up a total of 13 wickets in five matches at an average of 14.69. In the final against India, Ali picked up three wickets, including MS Dhoni and was adjudged the player of the tournament. Ali termed getting the player of the tournament trophy from former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly as one of his cherished memories. “Honestly, I never thought that I would become that impactful player for Pakistan in the tournament,t and I will get the player of the tournament trophy from Sourav Ganguly. When we were in the West Indies before the Champions Trophy, our bowling coach, Azhar Mahmood, told me that such moments rarely come in life. You are going to play in your first ICC tournament, put in your best effort, and give everything. I told him that I would try my best. The win was the result of the hard work of all of us,” said Ali. Pakistan had started their campaign with a 124-run loss against India at Edgbaston but then won their next four matches, including the semi-final against England, followed by the 180-run win over India in the final. Ali also shared how things changed after the loss against India. “We can never describe the feelings in words after winning the trophy. We were at number eight in the world ranking and lost our first match against India. We had a good meeting with coach Mickey Arthur after that loss. Even though I could not understand a single word of him speaking in English, we could sense from his face what he was trying to say. Later, Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez bhai translated his words and said, ‘Sheron ki tarah khelna hai’. And we played like that,” said Ali.
