Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has ruled out Pakistan out of the equation for the final against India, as the left-handed batsman has said that Pakistan do not stand a chance in the final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017,
“I just get a feeling that sometimes when they play India, either they are too worked up, they don’t stand a chance. The Pakistan I saw against South Africa, Sri Lanka and even England, it’s not the Pakistan I see against India. I don’t know how there can be such a big difference between a side in a matter of one day or one game,” Ganguly told India today.
“India are too far ahead. They have looked a solid team. No holes, no weaknesses in this Indian side. Yes in the past it was like, I’m just a little worried that the final may go the same way (India’s tournament opener against Pakistan. I hope it’s a great final because you expect world titles to be fought very hard and I hope Pakistan stand up and compete,” Ganguly said.
One of the other reason why India is considered to be favourite in this game is the win which defending champions sealed over Pakistan in the league stage on June 4, when the two teams faced off each other. A game which was expected to be a toughly fought affair, came out to be a one-sided affair where India crushed Pakistan to have the first say.
From there, India went to lose one game against Sri Lanka but defeated South Africa to qualify for the semi-finals, which was another one-sided affair. A comfortable win over Bangladesh saw India qualifying for the final for the second time. Incidentally, their opposition is none other than Pakistan, which is a must-win game for both the teams.
Though the balance is tilted towards Indian team they cannot be complacent here as their opponents are also strong and they have just registered a surprise by defeating England in the semi-final. That game would have given India a call as England was one of the top contenders to win the tournament but their journey was ended by a team which was not considered to be there at this stage.
Meanwhile, the game has generated a lot of attention as the TV ads during the game have already shot up to an amount of 100 Lakhs for just 10 seconds, which is enough to tell the hype and importance of this game.