Amir, Fakhar lead Pakistan to Champions Trophy triumph

Pakistan produced a story for the ages as they defied all pre-tournament predictions and thrashed their much-fancied rivals, India, to win the Champions Trophy.

Pakistan gained four points to move to 95 points as their wins over higher-ranked opponents in the tournament included the one in the final against India and an eight-wicket semi- final victory over England.

Pakistan's Fakhar Zaman was picked as Dhawan's opening partner after the youngster aggregated 252 runs in four matches at an impressive strike-rate of 113. That flying start and some late hitting by Mohammad Hafeez (57 not out) set the stage for Mohammad Amir to begin the evisceration of India's batting with a spell of three for 16 in six overs that included Kohli. "Credit to them for winning the title today", the India captain said in a statesman-like tone and tenor. "Furthermore, the terrorists can not win and cricket must not give up on Pakistan", Clarke had said.

Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed said that he hopes global cricket can return to the country soon. "We played like we had nothing to lose, now we are champions", said Sarfraz.

"When players like that get going on their day, it becomes really hard to stop them because I think 80 percent of his shots were high-risk - and they were all coming off", said Kohli. "So let's hope that this really kick-starts that momentum in Pakistan again".

"It needs a lot of guts to do that", he said. However, support for the Indian team hasn't dwindled post Pakistan's upset win.

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Since then she has won 20 matches and lost only three, and Cahill has no doubt she will have more chances to win slams. A win in Paris would also have handed her the top spot in women's tennis. "Maybe I wasn't ready to win it", she said.

"I was hugely impressed by his courage despite getting hit in the head early in his innings and how he forgot that tobuild a memorable innings", he added. He doesn't shy away from big games. He has always been world-class, a big-match player.

But it was fellow paceman Hasan Ali, the player of the tournament having kick-started Pakistan's revival in their group win over South Africa, who ended the match with more than 19 overs left when he had Jasprit Bumrah caught by gleeful captain and wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed.

Captain Kohli said: "I want to congratulate Pakistan and their supporters".

"There's no one team on the box, so you have to accept the losses".

"We had some good, hard conversations [after that defeat], but we didn't train anymore because we knew the base had been done". Personally, yes, it does feel bad.

"I'm disappointed but I have a smile on my face because I'm proud of how my team has performed in the tournament overall". They're struggling at the 9 position with meagre 77 rating points, and that makes it all the more hard for them to qualify for the ICC World Cup 2019.