2017 ICC Champions Trophy: India-Pakistan Match Felt Like A Practice Game – Harbhajan Singh

Nov 2, 2023 at 3:46 PM

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2017 ICC Champions Trophy: India-Pakistan Match Felt Like A Practice Game – Harbhajan Singh

For the whole cricketing fraternity waiting to see a blockbuster of a game between arch-rivals India and Pakistan in the Champions Trophy, the match ended quite meekly- something that was quite rare in the past.

Pakistan’s spectacular capitulation has surprised one and all and in fact, the Sarfraz Ahmed-led side was outplayed to such an extent that veteran India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has said the game felt like a practice game for Team India.

After being put into bat first, the Men in Blue rode on half-centuries from Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh to post a massive 319 for three in the rain-curtailed innings that was reduced to 48 overs.

In reply, Pakistan, who were set a target of 289 in 41 overs, never looked in contention to chase down the total and eventually finished their innings on 164 for nine, with Wahab Riaz unable to bat due to an injury he suffered while bowling.

“It felt like a practice game, to be honest. There wasn’t any competition, Pakistan is not the same side anymore. It will take them, I don’t know what to, get back to what they were about 15 years back. It’s a sad feeling to see where they are going with their cricket. Obviously, I’m really happy the way things have gone for India and I’m looking forward to the game against South Africa,” Harbhajan was quoted as saying by India Today.

Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly also echoed Harbhajan’s sentiments and insisted that the much-awaited game was a one-sided affair. In fact, he said that India has earned the bragging rights of this fixture by dominating their arch-rivals in the last few years.

“It was one-sided and that’s been the case for quite a while now. I can’t remember last 7-8 years there was anything which was competitive. The last competitive game was probably the 2007 World T20 in South Africa which was 10 years ago. You don’t enjoy because you know when you wake up in the morning there’s only one team which is going to win, which is India,” Ganguly said.

Criticising Pakistan’s tactics, Ganguly further added:

“Left-arm spinner bowling the second over for Pakistan in English conditions was ridiculous. India didn’t field well and probably gave away more runs than Pakistan, but the pressure of the scoreboard from India was a lot more than that of Pakistan. They dropped Yuvraj at 8, Virat Kohli at 40 and those last four overs they gave 72 runs. When left-arm spinner Imad Wasim was bowling the last over it reminded me of Yuvraj bowling to Dmitri Mascarenhas at The Oval (when he smashed five sixes in a row).

“It was a ridiculous way of going around an important game. You can say that for Sarfraz it’s his first big tournament as captain but then you have played for a while you know exactly what is happening,” Ganguly said.

Ganguly backed the defending champions to make it to the semifinal and said that the final group game against South Africa will prepare the Men in Blue for the knockout stage.

“They will (qualify for semis). It’s like stepping up a ladder – Pakistan, Sri Lanka next and then South Africa who are the toughest which will prepare India for the semi-finals and then the finals,” Ganguly said.

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