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Champions Trophy: London all set to host Pakistan-India mega final

Champions

LONDON, JUN 18 (DNA) – The game that always ‘stops two nations’ comes again to a third when title-holders India face Pakistan in the Champions Trophy final at London’s Oval ground on Sunday.

And the question millions of cricket fans around the world, possibly even a billion, are all asking is ‘which Pakistan will turn up?’

Will it be the team of their opening group match at Edgbaston on June 4, a 124-run thrashing by arch-rivals India, where their inept bowling and batting were outdone only by woeful fielding in what Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur labelled a “shambolic” display?

Or will it be the slick, skilled side who hammered England by eight wickets in the semi-finals, with Hasan Ali, the competition’s leading wicket-taker, spearheading a brilliant bowling effort as the previously unbeaten tournament hosts were dismissed for just 211 before the likes of Azhar Ali and Fakhar Zaman helped knock off the runs in dashing style?

Arthur is confident the India “aberration” is now behind Pakistan, who’ve also lost all three of their previous knockout matches at International Cricket Council tournaments against their fiercest foes.

“What we’ve produced after that doesn’t come as any surprise, because that’s how we trained, and that’s what we worked at,” Arthur told reporters at The Oval on Saturday.

“It was very disappointing to see that go wrong in the Indian game…That was an aberration. We’re now moving forward.”






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