Is this an ICC Champions Trophy or an ICC upsets Trophy? Well,
this edition of ICC Champions Trophy has an every reason to be called as an ICC
upsets Trophy, especially after England were humiliated at the hands of
Pakistan in the first semi-final at Cardiff. The results that we have come
across since Pakistan defeated South Africa have been quite surprising and
shocking and certainly have made a mockery of predications & analysis of
Cricket Experts. The Champions Trophy and the results were going exactly in the
same way as were expected till that England- New Zealand game on last Tuesday.
But, the next three days saw a big turnaround and shook up the cricketing world
throwing the Champions Trophy wide open. Out of a sudden, the teams, that started
off as reigning favourites were at the crossroads of an early exit. If we
closely look at the previous 50-over Tournaments, all the teams were more or
less of similar pedigree, but this time around, there was quite a significant
difference in class, experience and team balance in between top teams like England, India, South Africa, Australia
and lower ranked teams like Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The fact that the
tournament is being held in England, nullified whatever advantage Bangladesh
and Sri Lanka could have had, had the tournament being played in the
subcontinent. And if you closely observed the events before this turnaround,
there was no way one could have imagined these kind of results to turn up.
Pakistan were comprehensively beaten in every department against India in their
first match, but what followed after that was quite remarkable. They made South
Africa’s formidable batting dance to their tunes in what was a fine, inspiring
display of bowling effort from Pakistan and then held their nerves with the bat
in a rain-affected match. We saw completely contrasting Pakistan sides turning
up against India and South Africa. Even though they barely scampered home
against Sri Lanka on the other day and qualified for the semis, did they stood
any chance against formidable, undefeated England? Certainly not, at least I thought
that way and many other Cricketing experts too. But what happened in the Semis,
Pakistan not only defeated England and made it to the Champions Trophy Final
for the first time, they simply annihilated England when almost everyone thought
the result would be the exactly other way round. Pakistan’s journey to Champions
Trophy Final is certainly incredible, certainly considering the fact that they
were struggling to qualify for Champions Trophy itself in the first place.
Similar story goes with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Sri Lanka too were outplayed
by Proteas in the first game and they were certainly not in the contest till
India were batting. Set to chase a stiff total of 322, Gunathilaka, K Mendis,
Perera and the skipper Matthews scripted a brilliant run-chase that could very
well go down as their finest hour in recent times. Bangladesh’s victory was
much more memorable and sweeter considering the fact that they were once tottering
at 33/4 and it the end it was a very commanding victory, led by their senior
pros Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah, who stitched a massive 224-run 5th
wicket partnership.
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| Cricket, Pakistan & Unpredictability- We saw all of that in the first Semifinal between England & Pakistan |
We have second semi-final coming up, between India &
Bangladesh, any comments or predictions? At least not from my side. Just let’s
wait & watch and enjoy this Cricketing festival !
