Twitter Reactions: Wishes pour in for both India and Pakistan ahead of CT Final

The mother of all finals is here. Arch-rivals India and Pakistan will lock horns for the first time in a 50-over tournament final at the iconic Oval. The Champions Trophy is up for grabs and two contrasting sides will contest in what is certainly going to be a riveting game of cricket.

Pakistan have played a strange grade of cricket, alternating between lackluster and professional performances. Coming into the tournament as the 8th ranked team, nobody expected anything spectacular from the Green Shirts. Furthermore, after they were handed a drubbing by India in their opening game of the tournament, experts believed Pakistan would make a premature exit from the Champions Trophy, an all too familiar result for the team of late.

However, Sarfraz Ahmed’s boys defied all odds to overcome a robust English side in the semi-final, after having advanced by the skin of their teeth in a virtual quarter against Sri Lanka. The skipper’s heroics and an adept display of pace bowling by the likes of Hasan Ali and Mohammad Amir meant Pakistan sailed to their very first final in a Champions Trophy.

A contest between contrasting teams

On the other hand, defending champions India have been clinical and rather untested. They slipped against Sri Lanka despite posting a total in excess of 300 in the first innings. Thereafter, India have been essentially playing a set of warm-up games ahead of the final. They thrashed South Africa, who once again choked in a virtual knock-out match in an ICC event. Following their victory over the Proteas India breezed past Bangladesh in the semis.

India have banked on their top three batsmen, who have all scored runs at will. Shikhar Dhawan, the giant of ICC events for India, has once again risen to the occasion as he did four years ago. Rohit Sharma has supported Dhawan ably, and Virat Kohli at one-drop has been his usual proficient self. The top three batsmen of India have scored over 800 runs in the tournament, while England stands second in this list with close to 500 runs. India’s middle-order has been relaxing in the luxury of the dressing room for a while now, while the bowlers have done their bit as well.

The contest between India’s batsmen and Pakistan’s pacers is the one to look out for. The Men in Blue will be facing arguably the best bowling line-up in the Champions Trophy so far, and it will be interesting to see how they fare against the likes of Hasan Ali, Junaid Khan and Mohammad Amir.

Twitterati wishes both finalists

A crackerjack of a final awaits us in London, and millions of fans have poured their wishes for both teams ahead of the mouth-watering contest. And also the special ones. Here are some of the best tweets ahead of the Indo-Pak Champions Trophy final: