Flashback: India vs Pakistan in ICC tournament finals

India and Pakistan are set to face off in the 2017 Champions Trophy which was rather tough to predict after their opening game in the group stage. This will only be the 2nd time both the teams battle to crown the champion of an ICC event with the first one being the World T20 2007, final that the Indian team won. However, considering the events in Women’s cricket and the Men’s Under-19 which are also organised by the ICC, the CT final will be the 3rd between India and Pakistan played in a major ICC event.

ICC Under 19 World Cup 2006:

The first of the two Indo-Pak finals in any ICC tournament was played in the Under 19 World Cup in 2006 hosted by Sri Lanka. The final was hosted at the Colombo’s R. Premadasa Stadium in which Pakistan elected to bat first after winning the toss.

They were led by Sarfraz Ahmed then as well. The team was 5 down for 49 runs and were eventually bowled for just 109 by the Indian spinners led by Piyush Chawla who bagged a 4-wicket haul. Young Ravindra Jadeja, with 3 wickets, put on an important hand in warping up the opposition for a low total. It was Rameez Raja (2) who top scored for Pakistan with 25, the only player to cross the 20-run mark for his side.

On a day where the Indian senior side was enjoying their 4-1 series win in Pakistan, the U19 Pakistan team came out with great intensity to defend their total by taking out Gaurav Dhiman on the very first ball of the innings. Pacer Anwar Ali gave a fatal blow to the Indians by dismissing the highly rated youngsters, Cheteshwar Pujara for a duck and Rohit Sharma for 4 runs in his first over and M Tehlan as well with unplayable inswinging deliveries as the Indian scorecard read 8/4 by end of the 2nd over.

By the time the dinner break was taken, India were 6 down for just 9 runs; the 2nd lowest ever in any format of U19 Internationals at the fall of the 6th wicket. Anwar Ali completed his 5-fer by dismissing Ravindra Jadeja as Indians sunk to 23/7. However, Piyush Chawla and keeper Pinal Shah raised hopes in the Indian camp with a 39-run stand but pacer Akhtar Ayub removed the last 3 wickets in a space of 2 overs to pack up India for just 71 and seal the title for his side.

ICC World Twenty20 2007:

In a jam-packed Johannesburg Stadium, India and Pakistan clashed in the final of the first ever Twenty20 World Cup. After their encounter in the league stage ending in a tie, everyone expected the game to go down to the wire if not another tie.

Pakistan bowlers managed to get over the Indian batsmen after they elected to bat first. With the likes of Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni failing to connect, Gautam Gambhir stood out as the lone warrior for India as he struck a brilliant 75 off just 54 balls with help of 8 fours and 2 sixes. By the time he got out, they had 130/5 on the board in 18 overs, with his contribution over 50%.

Rohit Sharma, who also featured in the U19 CWC 2006 final vs Pakistan, made a vital contribution in this final by scoring a quick unbeaten 30 off just 16 balls to power Indian total to 157. Imran Nazir seemed to be in a mood to finish off the game early as he hit 4 fours and 2 sixes in the 14 balls he faced scoring 33 runs before falling to a direct hit.

Indian pacers Irfan Pathan and RP Singh did a great job to bring India back in the game as they played a vital role in reducing Pakistan to 104/7 by 16 overs. However, 3 sixes by Misbah-ul-Haq in the 17th over against Harbhajan Singh and the couple of sixes that Sohail Tanvir hit in the 18th over ensured the equation came down to 13 runs needed from the last over for Pakistan with only one wicket in hand.

Misbah hit a six on the 2nd ball of the over in Joginder Sharma’s over but ended up scooping the next ball to the short fine-leg fielder S Sreesanth when they needed 6 runs from 4 balls as India lifted the World T20 title winning the game by 5 runs.

While Rohit Sharma on Sunday will become the only player to feature in all the 3 India-Pakistan finals in ICC events including U19; history will be made when Sarfraz Ahmed and Virat Kohli walk out for the toss to become the only players to lead a team in U19 World Cup final and in an ICC event final at the senior level.