Mickey Arthur claims that Pakistan is capable of defeating any team, ahead of the CT17 finals

The Pakistan team has turned over the tables and will look to overcome their penultimate obstacle against India at The Oval to grab their maiden Champions Trophy. The Men in Green put up an impeccable performance to edge past hosts England in the semi-finals. Despite having a mixed performance throughout the campaign, Pakistan succeeded to hold on to their nerves and would be aiming to do the same in the finale. Both the teams have faced each other earlier in the Group stage of the tournament. India won that match by a mammoth 124-run margin.

Contemplating Pakistan’s disastrous defeat against the Men in Blue, head coach Mickey Arthur feels that the younger players might have been overwhelmed by the occasion of taking on their arch-rivals in a big event. Pakistan has had a turnaround in their fortunes, especially with the bowling department putting up clinical performances. Pacer Hasan Ali has clinched nine wickets, while Ruman Raees, who made his ODI debut against the Three Lions in the semis took 2 for 44. Legspinner Shadab Khan has also been brilliant maintain an economy rate of 4.66 in his three games.

Changed plans for the game against India

Speaking about the strategies, Arthur said, “We’ve concentrated more this time on our own games, and our own game plans as to where we want to go,”

“We dissected India a lot before the game at Edgbaston, and we’ve backtracked a little bit on that now and sort of solidified what we did really well, in terms of our batting, in terms of our fielding, and building on that. So tomorrow is going to be about us rather than the opposition, and we’ve made the focus us as a team.”

The Indian batting order, on the other hand, has been extremely clinical scoring the much-needed runs by virtue of successful partnerships. The bowling unit looks tight as well with the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravi Ashwin, and Jasprit Bumrah. Led by the skipper, Virat Kohli, India are one of the favourites to win the tournament and have a great chance of defending their title if the team performs to their true potential.