Azhar Mahmood ecstatic on Pakistan winning maiden Champions Trophy title

The recently concluded Champions Trophy saw Pakistan emerging victorious after trouncing arch-rivals India by 180 runs to lift their maiden title. Pakistan who were languishing at the lower rung of the ICC rankings came into the tournament as underdogs. Save for their defeat in the opening encounter against India, Pakistan breezed past the remaining hurdles to earn the coveted silverware.

Pakistan lost their mindset in their first fixture against India and succumbed to a 124-run defeat. The Men in Green resurrected themselves after the humiliating loss and thrashed South Africa, Sri Lanka and hosts England quite convincingly to storm into the finals. They met India again in the finals, held their nerves and pulled out a sensational victory, stunning their bitter rivals.

Former all-rounder Azhar Mahmood was ebullient in his praise for the team. He said that the result did not surprise him as he knew it was forthcoming, seeing the way the players had performed over the past few months.

Clicked at the right time

“Our improvement in all departments was phenomenal and whether it was batting, bowling or fielding we seemed to click at the right time to win the trophy. The improvement we saw was not only there in the way we turned around our fortunes in the Champions Trophy, but this was also there beforehand with our performance in the West Indies series where we showed great energy not only in ODI’s but also in the test matches as well,” Azhar told Pakpassion.net.

He was on cloud nine when Pakistan bowled out India and sealed the victory. He mentioned that hard work has paid off. “There is no better feeling than knowing that we have won the Champions Trophy or any other tournament for that matter. One can only praise the Almighty for His reward for our hard work before and during this tournament not only in our bowling but in the overall sense,” mentioned Azhar.

The 42-year-old lamented that despite Pakistan winning a major ICC title so convincingly, he hasn’t heard any praise from any quarter. It has become a habit to write off Pakistan so early in a tournament.

Nobody credited Pakistan

“As a coach involved with the winning side, this is the best feeling one can have but it gets better if we consider the fact that we won the final against our arch-rival India and lifted the Champions Trophy. We did so, at a time when no one gave us any chance of success. No one gave us any credit for the hard work we put in as we prepared for this tournament and we were written off after our defeat to India in the tournament opener,” Azhar added.

Mahmood was pleased with the performance of the current crop of players in the final. He also took note of the efforts of the seniors who contributed handsomely to the cause. “It was a team effort at the Champions Trophy and especially pleasing if we consider the fact that this is a young team which helped us win. The lads represent the future for Pakistan but it was also great to see the seniors responding well. So, players like Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez responded really well to our objective of playing the brand of cricket which we now want to play,” he concluded.