'India was nothing we had not seen'- Sarfaraz Ahmed reflects on beating India in Champions Trophy 2017 final

The Champions Trophy is about to begin and there is a lot of hype surrounding the ICC event which will be taking place in Pakistan and UAE this season and will feature the top eight teams in the tournament. The squads have been decided and the tournament is set to begin on February 19.

The team to watch out for will be Pakistan who will not only be playing at home but will also be looking to defend their title which they won in 2017 after beating arch-rivals India. Speaking of this rivalry the two teams will be playing in the same group once again and the upcoming rivalry is set to take place on February 23rd in Dubai. Though Pakistan has been struggling against India in ICC events in recent times the 2017 Champions Trophy was one of the most iconic moments of the team.

The Former Pakistan wicketkeeper batter Sarfaraz Ahmed, who was also the skipper for the team during the tournament talked about his experiences and how they came back against the Indian team after losing to them in the group stages.

“Afterwards (the India defeat), we had a great team meeting, and some of our senior guys – Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez – all said their piece. You need those types of characters around you. We changed our mindset from that day. The acrimony was very good for us, we made a couple of changes to the team and it helped our confidence," Sarfaraz wrote in a column for ICC.

Also Read: Champions Trophy 2025: India versus Pakistan blockbuster rivalry set for sold-out spectacle

“We played England in the semifinals and our bowlers were just superb, Then, it was India in the final. I was just confident our level was very high and my message to the players ahead of the final was to relax,” Sarfaraz added. 

This was not all as Sarfaraz also wrote about the feeling after beating the Indian team in the finals and mentioned it as indescribable. He also talked about how the mindset of the team was while going into the finals of the tournament against the Men in Blue.

“We knew we had beaten some of the best teams, so India was nothing we had not seen, I told the guys to relax, forget the result, and just give 100%," Sarfaraz wrote. 

“The rest is history. When the last wicket went down and we won, it is impossible to describe that feeling in words. When I took the last catch, I was at gully. And I just ran. I saw Shoaib Malik and ran into his arms, I jumped into him and hugged him. The whole team then joined in. It was indescribable," The 37-year-old concluded.