Pakistan lost their first match disastrously but then bounced back to win their remaining matches in style. They are the new ICC Champions Trophy winners now and kudos to them for this wonderful achievement. Here are 10 reasons why India lost.& Pakistan won.
1. A good toss to lose. A run out chance missed. A caught behind of a no ball and some initial luck went Pakistan’s way. 2. India’s bowling lacked the sting to trouble the Pakistan batting. Once the openers got going, they simply milked the Indian bowlers along. 3. Pakistan played to a plan. They wanted to pile up a big score and put the Indians under pressure. They kept their strategy simple and executed it to perfection. 4. Mohammad Hafeez came and finished the innings well. It was a good aggressive knock by him which gave Pakistan the added momentum. 5. Mohammad Amir was all charged up and fired. He had faced a barrage of insults from the Indian spectators in the opening match but he turned things around this time with an incredible performance and had the last laugh. The other Pakistan bowlers also chipped in well. Hasan Ali was a revelation in this tournament and their young leg spinner was also quite impressive. 6. India did not go into this match with specialists. There was no specialist opener along side Shikar Dhawan to see the new ball off. You can succeed with a makeshift opener sometimes, but not always. Rohit was always going to be a wrong choice in the opening slot. In the crunch game, he failed to fire. 7. India's best chaser Virat Kohli did not exhibit the kind of patience that is required to chase a total as large as this. He should have stayed in the crease a bit longer before going hard at the ball. He did not capitalize on the dropped chance either. 8. India was perhaps a bit over confident. They relied too much on past history and underestimated the Pakistan side. This Pakistan side is fresh and has several young new faces who made the difference. They showed a lot of hunger and desire to win. 9. Ravindra Jadeja 10. Pakistan had a balanced unit. They had good strength in their bowling as well as batting departments and were undoubtedly the superior team. All in all, they deserved to win. Better luck to India next time. It was a disappointing performance by India in the finals but have to note that Hardik Pandya played really well. Well, you win some and you lose some and the finals were just not India’s day. Some consolation in India's Hockey win and Kidambi Srikanth's amazing win in Indonesa open Badminton. - Sandeep Heble