Jasprit Bumrah's no-ball was the turning point in CT 2017 final: Bhuvneshwar Kumar

On June 18, three years completed for Pakistan winning the Champions Trophy against all the odds defeating their arch-rivals India in the final. Fakhar Zaman was their hero who scored a scintillating century to help the team score 338 runs on the board. The bowlers then took care of the Indian batsmen to skittle the Men in Blue for just 158 runs.

Though it was a one-sided encounter, the final was defined by many game-changing moments. And one of them was Fakhar Zaman being reprieved early on in the innings thanks to Jasprit Bumrah‘s no-ball. The left-handed batsman wasn’t even in the double figures and he made the most of the let-off smashing 114 runs off just 106 deliveries. This was one of the turning points of the match according to India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

It certainly was one as Pakistan got off to a brilliant start then and never looked back. However, Bhuvi also credited the Men in Green for playing some impeccable cricket. “In the 2017 Champions Trophy final, things changed after Jasprit Bumrah’s no-ball. It’s not like we’ve had a one-sided loss or we went down without a fight. We’ve always lost due to an unfortunate event or incident.

“Although, the 2017 Champions Trophy final was a one-sided loss where they outplayed us. And it’s difficult to pin-point the exact reason for the loss,” he said while speaking to ESPNCricinfo.

Losing in knockouts has masked our good performance, says Bhuvi

India last won an ICC event at the international level back in 2013 when the MS Dhoni-led side defeated England to win the Champions Trophy. Since then, the team has made it to the semi-final or final of almost every tournament only to not win the trophy. Bhuvneshwar Kumar also pointed out the same terming the team unlucky in the last year’s World Cup semifinal when they lost to New Zealand.

India had topped the group stage and a particular 30-40-minute period took the game away from them against the Kiwis. The Meerut pacer feels that the losses in knockout matches over the last few years has overshadowed team India’s brilliant performances in the ICC tournament.

“The last we won was the Champions Trophy in 2013. And since then, there have been only 3-4 ICC tournaments and we have made it to the semis or the finals about 2-3 times. In 2015 World Cup we lost to Australia in the semi-final. And in 2019 World Cup, it was bad luck. An early loss of three top order batsmen cost us the game. It rarely happens that in a match after dismissing the opposition for under 250, you are get bowled out.

“In that entire World Cup, Rohit Sharma had scored five or six centuries, KL Rahul was in good form, Virat Kohli played as always and we had MS Dhoni as well in the team. But losing these knockout matches masks the fact that we actually played very well through those tournaments,” Bhuvi further added.