London, June 18: Pakistan humiliated India by a huge margin of 180 runs to lift their maiden ICC Champions Trophy on Sunday (June 18).
CT 17 Special Site; Photos; Match Scorecard
Promising young opener Fakhar Zaman slammed a super century to guide Pakistan to a challenging total against arch-rivals India after being invited to bat first.
Zaman, however, had his share of luck when he was got a breather at 3 after Jasprit Bumrah got him caught behind on a no-ball. The 27-year-old never looked back from then on and went on punishing Indian bowlers for Bumrah's folly.
(Hardik Pandya creates record)
After losing the final, India cricketer Hardik Pandya took a veiled dig at Bumrah's no-ball, which cost India badly in the game. Had Zaman been dismissed at 3, Pakistan wouldn't have been able to post such a huge total for Zaman went on adding 111 more runs to his individual total.
Pandya's 43-ball 76 was the only positive India could take from the shambolic defeat at the hands of a mercurial Pakistan.
He was also dismissed because of a mis-communication between him and Ravindra Jadeja. Pandya looked visibly furious with Jadeja not responding to his call and the latter didn't even sacrificed his wicket for the former.
Pandya took to Twitter to express his displeasure with the loss and wrote, "Hume to apno ne loota, gairo me kahan dum tha (We were looted by one of us, why blame others)."
His tweet was perhaps aimed at both Jadeja and Bumrah. The Baroda cricketer, later, deleted the tweet for it was considered in bad taste by many.
The young India all-rounder after impressing with his bowling effort, was the lone talking point of the Indian batting in the final. In an otherwise disappointing batting effort, Pandya made batting looked easy and kept his chin up as he fought vehemently.
Pandya slammed his half-century in just 32 balls surpassing Australian great Adam Gilchrist's previous record in 33 balls which he slated at ICC Cricket World Cup 1999.
Pandya's aggressive batting against Pakistan showed there weren't any demons in the pitch and that it was the lack of execution and early jitters of the Indian batsmen which cost them their wickets and eventually the match.
The right-handed all-rounder, who had shown some of his brilliance with the bat during the IPL 10 for his franchise Mumbai Indians, displayed some power hitting in his 43-ball 76. Batting at a strike rate of 200 Pandya smashed six huge sixes in this innings.
Pandya's three consecutive sixes in the that Shadab Khan over (no. 23) were certainly the highlight of the Indian innings. Pandya completed his fifty with a six to bring up his fifty off 32 deliveries.
OneIndia News