ICC Champions Trophy 2017, India vs Pakistan: X-factors for the final
Imran Khan once said, "Cricket is a pressure game and when it comes to India vs Pakistan, that pressure is doubled." When an uber cool personality like the former Pakistan captain says this, one can understand the magnitude of this clash. Tomorrow is the day which will give the world another game of this cricketing battle between India-Pakistan which was and will always be more than just cricket to the people of both these countries.
India and Pakistan are the two finalists of the ICC Champions Trophy as an 18-day fast paced tournament comes to an end tomorrow at the Oval. The road to the final has been very different for both the finalists. India, on one hand, played according to their tag as the strongest team in the competition and have bulldozed their way into yet another ICC event final. Pakistan, on the other hand, had to toil hard and barring their semifinal win against England, Sarfraz Ahmed and his men had to put themselves on the line in every game.
India's batting has looked the most confident of all the teams in this competition whereas the same can be said for Pakistan's bowling. It will be a nail-biting contest with the Indian bowling and the Pakistani batting also proving their worth in the semis.
The head to head record in the Champions Trophy stands at 2-2 right now with one thing certain that it will not be a cakewalk for India as many have predicted. To delve into the pre-match stuff more analytically and taking a closer look at both these teams, let us look at the five players that can have the X-factor going into tomorrow's final showdown:
#5 Kedar Jadhav
Kedar Jadhav has been playing regularly in the Indian team since a year now and has flourished in a finisher's role. Jadhav displayed just that in India's second match against Sri Lanka where he scored a quickfire 25 not out from 13 balls. His knock, which included three fours and six on the leg side, helped India cross 320.
In the semifinal, India were in need of a wicket in the middle overs as Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim were going strong. Jadhav was brought into the attack with his off-breaks as an out of the box strategy by captain Kohli.
The Pune-born all-rounder did wonders as he dismissed both the set batsmen in a matter of two overs and changed the complexion of the match. Jadhav has this quality to chip in with important contributions with bat/ball which makes him a worthy candidate to be included on this list.