Azhar Ali with his pick for the tournament

The amount of discussion that has been going on prior to the clash between India-Pakistan on Sunday is just extraordinary. The rivalry has always been seen as more than a match for the people involved. The fans from either side take the emotion to another level. Talks have been held on both sides citing various analysis and picking the favourites going into the match.

Words have rarely been minced in such encounters. The players themselves don’t miss out on an opportunity to express their views on the match and this time it is the turn of top order batsman and former ODI captain Azhar Ali who picked his key player for Sunday’s epic clash with which both the team’s kick-start their Champions Trophy 2017 campaign.

Azhar Ali “Golden Boy”

He has picked young Babar Azam as the key player for the summit clash. Azam made his ODI debut in 2015 and impressed one and all becoming the fastest Pakistani and joint fastest in the world to reach 1000 ODI runs. To top it all off, he is the only Pakistan player to be featured in the Top 10 in the ICC ODI rankings for batsmen. He was placed at number 7.

“I won’t name any single player, everyone has got the ability to perform and everyone is eager to perform well but the way Babar Azam has played recently and performed consistently, he would be our key player,” Ali said.

When asked about the expectations and the pressure that comes along with an India-Pakistan game, he said: “Pakistan and India will be a good game for fans and players – both the teams would do their best to perform in the game. Our fans have high expectations from us and we would try to perform according to their expectations. As professional players, we have to take it as a game only, once you are at the ground the encounter is between bat and ball and that’s how it is.”

The 32-year-old was reluctant in promising this or that as he didn’t want to put pressure on himself and cited that the ICC tournaments are a great opportunity for every player to prove themselves. Ali also stated that he is fit and in form and raring to get at it in the middle. In his view, the bowlers have an advantage and the weather conditions will factor into the match.