India Pakistan CT tie becomes highest rated ODI in BARC history

Like billions of Indian cricket fans, the bookies too have pegged India to be the favorite for the high-octane Champions trophy summit clash against arch-rivals Pakistan at the Oval, London on Sunday. “All TV execs around the world are now cracking a nice bottle open to celebrate”, tweeted former England captain Michael Vaughan.

India’s selection today will be heavily influenced by past events. This fixture is where cricket is at.

A person in the sports broadcasting industry said that the fewer than 10% slots are left for the final.

“Barring one match (against Sri Lanka) India have done well in every department and they are overall favourites”.

India have won all three of their previous matches with Pakistan in the knockout stages of International Cricket Council tournaments to date but Mahmood, 42, said there was no reason why the sequence had to be extended this weekend as well. “They have showed faith in us and we would like them to support us during the final too”, the soft-spoken Pakistan skipper said in a hurried tone. On that occasion, England was the creator of their own downfall in playing some loose cricket shots, without doing the hard yards that even the modern-day batsmen must be prepared to put in every now and again.

The men in green came into the ICC Champions Trophy as the lowest-ranked of all eight teams and started the tournament with an error-strewn performance against India, sliding to a 124-run defeat. They’ve lived up to that billing by reaching the final but their success will be gauged upon how they turn up on the day of the final.

We hope that the combination of the aggressive Virat Kohli and the ex-captain cool’s calm will help India lift the mini world cup.

The key, Kohli says, is to avoid negativity and distractions on social media where he has a fanbase of 65.6 million people across his Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

De Villiers, who is now struggling with a poor run of form despite being at the helm of the number one ODI team, said that Kohli is able to cope with the extreme pressure that comes with being captain of the Indian cricket team. Pakistan can test his technique – if only the white ball will swing.

Given that Bhuvneshwar Kumar, India’s most successful bowler, has taken six wickets so far, it will take something special to stop Hasan from finishing as the leading wicket-taker in a tournament featuring the world’s top eight one-day worldwide sides.

India should retain the trophy. Shikhar Dhawan has the most runs, Kohli the most fifties.

The bowling department for India under the likes of pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin have looked solid bowling economically while providing clinical breakthroughs. The modern India side are superstars, all swagger and IPL glamour.

Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur: “They’ve [his team] been outstanding, the way they’ve prepared, the way they dragged themselves off the canvas after the beating at Edgbaston [against India], was fantastic”.

Asked by AFP at the Oval if Amir was fit and would play in Sunday’s showpiece clash at the London ground, Arthur replied: “He’s fit to play, and he will play”.

Amir’s return bolsters an already impressive Pakistan pace attack featuring Hasan Ali, the tournament’s leading wicket-taker.

Pakistan’s batting is fragile but should not be disregarded. Sarfraz Ahmed’s side did not evoke a lot of confidence.

And while India’s bowling attack has been effective, they did have one blip: the second group match, in which the bowlers took only one Sri Lankan wicket.

Those two wickets against Sri Lanka have been his only two of the tournament so far, however, albeit his economy rate is a respectable 4.79.

The South African’s comments echoed those of Pakistan bowling coach Azhar Mahmood, who insisted: “History can change, and I hope we can (change it)”.

“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”.