Pakistan showed great courage and discipline to beat arch-rivals by 180 runs in the finals of ICC Champions Trophy finals played at Kennington Oval, London. Winning the toss, India elected to bowl and were not able to restrict the Pakistani batting line up while chasing none of top order batsmen contributed losing by a gap of 180 runs.
Indian captain Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to field. Fakhar Zaman got a life in the 4th over as Jasprit Bumrah bowled a no ball. After that both Pakistan openers played the Indian fast bowlers with positive intent. At the end of 10 overs, they were 56 for 0. They were lucky on various on missing chances. Both of them completed their half centuries in 60 balls and 61 balls respectively. The first wicket of Pakistani innings fell at the score of 128 as Azhar Ali fell for 59.
Fakhar Zaman continued his excellent batting and put the pressure on the Indian bowling line up. He completed his maiden century in 92 balls. It was an amazing innings as he was dismissed for well-made 114. Babar Azam and Shoaib Malik added 47 runs for third wicket. Mohammad Hafeez scored a quick fire fifty in 34 balls while Imad Wasim scored 25 off 21 balls. At the end of 50 overs, Pakistan scored 338 for 4.
Chasing the target of 339, Indian innings got off to worse start losing the wicket of Rohit Sharma in the 3rd ball of the innings. Captain Virat Kohli was dismissed by Mohammad Aamir for 5 runs. Shikhar Dhawan looked in good touch but Aamir dismissed him. At the end of 10 overs, India were 47 for 3.
The Indian team lost wickets at regular intervals as Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav could not contribute anything. Hardik Pandya played a cameo innings with excllent hitting. He completed his fifty in 32 balls and continue to attack the Pakistani bowlers. Ravindra Jadeja ran out Hardik Pandya for 76 runs. Pakistan bowled out India for 158 in 30.3 overs winning the match by 180 runs.
Pakistan 338 for 4 in 50 overs ( Fakhar Zaman 114, Mohammad Hafeez 57) beat India 158 in 30.3 overs ( Hardik Pandya 76, Hasan 3/19) by 180 runs.
Pakistan won their maiden Champions Trophy title.
