CT 2017: Pakistan will put up better fight than the last game, says Harbhajan Singh

Veteran Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh is mighty pleased to see team India making it to the final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. India beat Bangladesh in the second semi-final by 9 wickets to set up the title clash against arch-rivals Pakistan. Earlier, Pakistan had stunned the hosts and the favorites England in the first semi-final. The last time India and Pakistan met in the tournament, it was the men in blue that came on top on the occasion.

India had beaten Pakistan by 124 runs back then. Harbhajan Singh, in a recent conversation with India Today, remarked that the men in green will have to play the best match of their life to beat team India. He feels they will come up with an improved performance this time around.

“Pakistan will have to play the best game of their life to win. They have a good side but they will have to play well. Pakistan will actually put up a better fight than the last game they played against India, but I still don’t feel they have that quality side to beat India. I feel that India will win the final,” said Harbhajan Singh.

Gameplan for India

Harbhajan further spoke about the strategy that the Indian team needs to adopt. He wants the Indian captain to bat first after winning the toss. For Pakistan, the only way to win the game is to take wickets quickly. Pakistan will have a chance only if they restrict India to under 300.

“I would like to bat first against Pakistan and get 350 on the board and let them chase and we know that getting them under pressure they don’t score big runs. I have played county cricket there, for two years at the Oval for Surrey. It’s probably one of the best batting pitches in England,” he remarked.

“All the Indian batsmen will enjoy playing there and Pakistan will have to have a top bowling attack to stop India from scoring 300 runs, if at all they want to get into the game. Under 300, Pakistan have a chance. More than 300 I don’t think Pakistan would have any chance,” Harbhajan Singh added further.

On Indian batting

Talking about the Indian batting, Harbhajan Singh called the lineup as an unstoppable unit. He remarked that the openers are in fine form. The middle-order has got the runs too. Hence, the team is currently in a safe place. They are capable of taking on any bowling lineup.

“The Indian batting line-up is unstoppable, everyone is in good knick, especially the opening partners, Rohit and Shikhar are doing a great a job for India and Virat is playing as usual, brilliant innings in the middle. Yuvraj played well against Pakistan, after that he didn’t get too many chances in the middle to bat. He looked good the other day against Sri Lanka. This Indian batting line-up, these guys are ready for any sort of bowling line-up,” said the off-spinner.

On Bangladesh game

Commenting on the semi-final game against Bangladesh, Bhajji believes that the opposition threw it away. Bowling Kedar Jadhav was a masterstroke played by the Indian skipper. He pointed out that had Bangladesh scored close to 320, they would have still lost the game. The kind of form Indian batsmen are in, any target looked like an achievable one.

“At one stage Bangladesh was going really strong, they were 150 odd for 2 and suddenly Kedar Jadav came in and bowl, though we criticise him for his bowling, today he came out and got the two crucial wickets for India. That actually changed  the game for India and from there Bangladesh didn’t get to settle in the middle and didn’t get as many as they should have. Even 320 odd, India would have chased to be honest. Rohit the way he was hitting the ball and Virat, they were unstoppable,” he conceded.