Champions Trophy brings smiles all over Pakistan

Pakistan beat arch-rivals India on Sunday to win the Champions Trophy for the first time in their proud cricketing history. The Pakistani team has always been a cricket loving nation and success is not new to them. They have even won the World Cup once in 1992 but arguably this victory is sweeter than that.

Reason this might be Pakistan’s biggest win in cricket

Pakistan team of 1992 had many world class players like Wasim Akram, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Javed Miandad and they were led by the lion-hearted Imran Khan. That Pakistani unit was brimming with superstars while no one was willing to give a chance to this team. At one point it looked like they might not even qualify for the event.

They have been through a lot of turmoil in recent times and the team consists of a mix of raw and rusty. Players like Shadab Khan and Fakhar Zaman were considered too raw to excel in the tournament of such magnitude. Mohammad Amir had resumed playing International cricket after completing his 5-year ban last year. 5 years is enough time someone to get rusty.

Credit must go to their captain Sarfraz Ahmed who marshalled his troops expertly throughout the tournament. No one gave them even a semblance of a chance after suffering a damaging defeat in their first match. This team didn’t look back since then and the green army gave their terror-stricken country a reason to feel good.

Celebrations were observed throughout the country

Pakistan is a country which is short of good news due to terrorism and misgovernance. This news gave them a reason to smile, a reason to feel good about themselves and to rejoice. Reports suggest even the hardened Taliban put down their guns for once and celebrated by shooting bullets in the air rather than spreading sadness by shooting bullets on innocents.

Parties went on till late even in the Gulf states like Dubai and Bahrain. This victory has a special flavour because Indians were the losers. Pakistan brings a different dimension to world cricket, cricket needs them and seemingly Pakistan needs cricket