The two cricket giants of Asia; India and Pakistan will lock horns against each other at the epic ICC Champions Trophy finale match at the Oval on Sunday. Indians are on a high spirit after crushing Bangladesh by 9 wickets at the semi-final a couple of days back. Men in Blue created mayhem at Edgbaston with raining boundaries and sixes all across the ground at the Semi-final 2 cruising into the final in an emphatic style.
Also Read: India vs Pakistan, ICC Champions Trophy 2017 Final: Live streaming, venue and schedule
Champions Trophy 2017: India vs Pakistan – Live Cricket Score #CT17
In the last match, India’s top three; Dhawan, Kohli and Sharma got good runs with the bat making a complete mockery of Bangladeshi bowling attack. Ahead of the nail-biting match between these two teams, India and Pakistan are toiling hard and making no stone unturned at their respective practice sessions on the ground.
Top five run-scorers at ICC Champions Trophy 2017:
#1) Shikhar Dhawan (India): 317 runs
#2) Rohit Sharma (India): 304 runs
#3) Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh): 293 runs
#4) Joe Root (England): 258 runs
#5) Virat Kohli (India): 253 runs
Team News for India
At present, men-in-blue are on top of the world. They are giving marvelous all-round performance matches after matches. Be it the rocking duo of Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar – who are spearheading India’s fast bowling attack or the splendid performance of India’s top three batsmen with the bat, team India is certainly playing like a champions now.
Shikhar Dhawan will have golden chance to become the leading run-scorer in the ICC Champions Trophy overtaking Gayle’s 791-run world record. The Indian opener is just 112-run short of the feat.
Once again, India’s top order will have to click if they really want to clinch the title. Though, India have capable middle order batsmen in Ravindra Jadeja, Yuvraj and Kedar Jadhav – but a fall of few early wickets could bring them under pressure at this high-voltage match.
Team News for Pakistan
The men-in-green will have to play tomorrow’s game without their star pacer Mohammad Amir as he suffered back spasm during the semi-final match against England. However, good form of Hasan Ali will give the much-needed depth to Pakistan’s fast bowling. Ali has got 10 wickets already in the tournament at 17.20 with an impressive economy rate of 4.52 RPO.
Then the likes of Junaid Khan, Shadab Khan and Shoaib Mallik are also there to trouble India’s strong batting lineup, even though it seems pretty impossible at the moment. Junaid also got 7 wickets from 3 matches so far. But can Pakistan really trouble India’s gigantic batting line-up? India defeated Pakistan in an almost one-sided manner fortnight back at the group match. The same history is likely to be repeated at the Oval too.
In Batting, Pakistan will have some over expectations from its star batsmen; Azhar Ali, Sarfraz Ahmed, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Mallik. If a couple of these batsmen stick to the ground for the first 30 overs, then only Pakistan score big or chase successfully – otherwise it is completely futile to expect a lot from Pakistan’s inexperienced side.
Predicted Playing XI (Both Teams)
India: V Kohli (Captain), RG Sharma, S Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (Wicket Keeper), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, R Jadeja, R Ashwin, B Kumar and J Bumrah.
Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (Captain & Wicket Keeper), Azhar Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Imad Wasim, Rumman Raees, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali and Junaid Khan.
Head to Head: Pakistan have 72-52 win-loss record against India. (No Result – 4)
In Champions Trophy: India and Pakistan have won 2-2 matches each.
Venue: The Oval. The match starts from 3 PM (IST) on Sunday.
Tags: #CT17, Hotstar, ICC Champions Trophy, ICC Champions Trophy 2017, India, Kennington Oval, Live Cricket Score, Live Streaming, London, Pakistan, Star Sports, TV Channels
