For all the hype surrounding the India-Pakistan clash on June 4 in the ongoing Champions Trophy, it turned out to be a lopsided affair. Defending champions India thrashed their arch-rivals by 124 runs, and everybody wrote off the Men in Green. Much to everyone's surprise, India were shocked by Sri Lanka in the next match—Lankans beat them by seven wickets. On the other hand, the cornered Pakistanis stunned the number one ODI team—South Africa—albeit with a little help from the weather gods.
India's subsequent matches might have proved that the defeat against the Lankans was a minor blip in the otherwise flawless campaign. But Pakistan has gone from strength to strength to gatecrash into the finals of the Champions Trophy. The team is high on confidence after beating tournament favourites and hosts England by eight wickets in the semifinals, without breaking a sweat. Pakistan do not look the same side that dropped in the towel a little too quickly in the June 4 encounter. They have a spring in their step, and loads of self-belief. The return of pace spearhead Mohammad Amir, too, who sat out of the semifinal due to “back spasm”, will hold them in good stead.
History, too, favours them. Though India have had the upper hand in the recent clashes in ICC events, especially the World Cups, Pakistan have prevailed over the Men in Blue in the three Champions Trophy encounters. Here's a look at the three matches between the arch-rivals in this tournament:
2004, Birmingham: Pakistan won by 3 wickets
It was a low-scoring thriller, to say the least. Pakistan won the toss and elected to field. India had a horrendous start, with Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag and V.V.S. Laxman back in the pavilion with only 28 runs on board. Rahul Dravid (67) anchored the Indian innings, first with a 45-run partnership with Mohammed Kaif (27), and then, an 82-run partnership with Ajit Agarkar (47). However, India were all out for a below-par score of 200. Naved-ul-Hasan and Shoaib Akhtar took four wickets each. Chasing 201, Pakistan, too, suffered early jolts, with Irfan Pathan reducing the Men in Green to 27/3. But, a 75-run partnership between Mohammad Yousuf (81*) and Inzamam-ul Haq (41) stemmed the rot. Shahid Afridi chipped in with a quick-fire 25 off 12 balls, and though India managed to dismiss him in the 46th over, Yousuf and Hasan managed to take Pakistan home with four balls to spare.
2009, Centurion: Pakistan won by 54 runs
Pakistan won the toss again and elected to bat this time. Indian pacers Ashish Nehra and R.P. Singh reduced them to 65/3 by the 15th over. This brought Mohammad Yousuf (87) and Shoaib Malik (128) together, and by the time Yousuf was dismissed in the 46th over, the two had put on a mammoth partnership of 206 runs. Though Pakistan lost wickets in a heap towards the end, they managed to cross the 300-run mark. Nehra claimed four wickets.
Chasing 303 to win, Rahul Dravid (76), once again, tried to anchor the innings but he got little support from the other batsmen, apart from Gautam Gambhir (57) and Suresh Raina (46). Pakistan managed to take wickets at regular intervals, and eventually bowled India out for 248 runs in 44.5 overs. Mohammad Amir, Naved-ul-Hasan, Saeed Ajmal and Shahid Afridi chipped in with two wickets each.
2013, Birmingham: India won by 8 wickets
India finally got it right at the toss (win the toss, win the match?). Under overcast conditions, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni decided to bowl first. The Indian bowlers took full advantage of the conditions, skittling out Pakistan for 165 in 39.4 overs—the match was reduced to 40 overs due to rain. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja took two wickets each, with Kumar conceding just 19 runs in eight overs. For Pakistan, Asad Shafiq played a lone hand, scoring 41. Further rain resulted in the target being revised to 102 in 22 overs as per the Duckworth-Lewis method. Openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan came out to bat having their task well cut out. While Sharma dropped anchor, Dhawan went for the shots. They put on 58 runs for the first wicket, before Sharma was dismissed for 18. Twenty runs later, Dhawan, too, departed for 48. But it was too late by then for Pakistan. Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik guided India home with 17 balls remaining. India went on to win the Champions Trophy, beating England by five runs.
