Champions Trophy: Who has won the POTM awards in previous India-Pakistan matches?

February 23 is going to feature the sixth Champions Trophy match between India and Pakistan. This is the game the fans have been waiting for and it will be a crucial match for both the teams who will be playing the game at the Dubai International Stadium. There will be some iconic stars that will feature in the game as well.

The battle between the two teams in the eight-team tournament has been intense whereas in the five matches, Pakistan just about holds the lead with three wins while India has won two. However, it will be interesting to see who were the star performers in these five matches between the two rivals in the Champions Trophy. This will be a great throwback for all the fans who have enjoyed the thrill and excitement of this rivalry in the ICC event.

The Indo-Pakistan matches in the Champions Trophy started in 2004 when the tournament was played in England. However, we missed out on the battle between the two teams in the 2006 edition which was played in India where both teams failed to make it past the group stage but the matches continued from 2009 once again and ended with two matches that were played in the last edition.

Also Read: How has India fared against Pakistan in ODIs?

Players who won POTM awards in Champions Trophy

The 2004 match between the two sides was a low-scoring game played at Edgbaston where Pakistan had bundled out India for 200 runs and Pakistan just about managed to chase down the total with four balls to spare. The player of the match was Pakistan’s dependable middle-order batter Mohammad Yousuf who played a responsible knock of 81 off 114 deliveries. While the first game was a thriller the second game was a one-sided encounter that saw the Indian team suffer a massive 54-run loss in 2009 at Centurion. It was Shoaib Malik who was the star of the match and was rightfully awarded the player of the match for his incredible century.

The 2013 edition was an opportunity for India to finally win a match against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy and they managed to do it convincingly in a rain-affected match winning by eight wickets and taking revenge for what happened at Edgbaston during the first encounter. It was India’s swing king Bhuvneshwar Kumar who won the player of the match for his incredible spell. The last two matches were played in the 2017 edition where India played their first game of the tournament once again at Edgbaston and gave Pakistan a 124-run thrashing.

It was Yuvraj Singh who became the player of the match for his quickfire 53 off just 32 balls. Eventually, Pakistan got redemption in the finals winning their first Champions Trophy title. It was the swashbuckling opener Fakhar Zaman who was awarded the player of the match for his incredible century.