And this record does not include Tests played in the UAE. With those, Pakistan's record is even more dominant.

This series win also helped Pakistan gain two spots in the ICC Test Rankings.

The best part about this series win is that every single player, across the two tests, put their hands up, and contributed towards Pakistan's victory charge.

Winning start to Babar Azam's Test captaincy stint; resurgent comeback of Hasan Ali; coming of age of Mohammad Rizwan and Faheem Ashraf; epic debut of Nauman Ali; continued redemption of Fawad Alam; and consistent breakthrough provided by Shaheen Afridi and Yasir Shah; first test rearguard action of Azhar Ali; and the immaculate slip catching of Imran Butt - all of them  played their part in Pakistan's first test series win over South Africa in 17 years!

It sure was epic seeing Pakistan come out on top in this Test series, and bodes well for the future of Pakistan's cricket under Babar Azam, as well as, for Pakistan playing at home!

Pakistan's international limited overs teams have had a ball for past year and a half. The T20 international team is the number one ranked team, and while the ODI team is still in the middle of the table at number five, it has had a magnificent run since the Champions Trophy last year.

Since June 2017, Pakistan have the second best W:L ratios among the 10 ODI teams that will be participating in World Cup 2019.

Only England has a better record than Pakistan during this period; however Pakistan has lost the least number of ODIs in this time among these teams.

Pakistan's successful run during this period has been helped by the induction of some fresh blood with the likes of Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Hasan Ali, Faheem Ahraf, and Shadab Khan making great strides as match winners.

Sarfraz's Captaincy

It is no surprise though that these match winners have been born under the leadership of Sarfraz Ahmed.

While his antics on the field may display nervousness and temper, Safraz has grown as a well respected leader within the Pakistan dressing room.

This recent success that Pakistan's ODI team has had has led Sarfraz Ahmed to the top of the heap among Pakistan's ODI captains.

His Win % of 70.8% is the best among all captains that Pakistan has had in ODIs.

While these are still early days in his captaincy period, Sarfraz is ranked along side some legendary captains in ODIs with only a few of them with higher Win %.

Fakhar's Batting

Fakhar Zaman is among the leading run scorers in ODIs since June 2017, which was when he made his international debut.

While the Indian top 3 and Johnny Bairstow have outscored Fakhar during this period, Fakhar has the second best average among these batsmen, behind only Virat Kohli and equal to Ross Taylor.

Fakhar is also among the only four batsmen with a strike rate above 100 during this period and he also has the highest ODI score of 210 during this period.

Hasan's Bowling

Among the bowlers, Hasan Ali has been the pick from Pakistan. Overall, Hasan is the 6th highest wicket taker in ODIs since June 2017; however among the fast bowlers, he is only behind India's Jasprit Bumrah.

More than his tally of wickets, it is Hasan's average, strike rate, and economy rate that stand out. He is miles ahead of all pace bowlers, and among all bowlers since June 2017, his metrics are bettered by only Afghanistan's wonderkid Rashid Khan.

Babar's Magic

One batsman who always deserves a mention when talking about Pakistan's recent rise in ODI cricket is Babar Azam, arguably the best ODI batsman to ever play for Pakistan.

While Fakhar has overshadowed Babar in the past year, it was Babar who had a dream run in the preceding years and he is still considered the cornerstone of Pakistan's batting line up.

His frequency of scoring centuries, his ability to build innings, his defense, his attack, they are all sublime.

Babar, in fact has scored more centuries at number 3 for Pakistan in ODIs in the history of Pakistan's ODI cricket.

He is also the 10th batsman from Pakistan to score more than 1,000 runs at number 3 in ODIs and at the rate that he is going, it won't be long before Babar becomes Pakistan's leading run scorer at number 3, and maybe overall too!

Pakistan have had a magical run for the past year, and if they can maintain this form for the next year then they will be one of the front runners for World Cup 2019!

2017 was quite a year for Pakistan Cricket.

They won the Champions Trophy for the first time joining India, Sri Lanka and the West Indies as the only teams to win all major ICC trophies.

Pakistan won their first ever Test Series in the West Indies as Misbah and Younis bid farewell to the game.

Fakhar Zaman hit a memorable maiden ODI ton in the final of the Champions Trophy.

Hasan Ali became the number 1 ranked ODI bowler becoming the first Pakistani pacer to reach that ranking since the hey days of Wasim Akram in the 90s.

Imam Ul Haq hit a debut ODI century giving Pakistan another talented batsman.

Babar Azam's limited overs stock continue to grow with more centuries.

New talents like Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, and Rumman Raees continued to shine.

But the moment of the year for Pakistan cricket was surely this...


Aamer got Kohli twice in as many deliveries in a year when not many bowlers could claim to have got him even once.

It was an exceptional spell of bowling by Aamer as he dismissed the tournament's top 3 leading run scorers - Kohli, Rohit, and Dhawan - inside the first 10 overs and sealed the final for Pakistan.

Team Performance in 2017

In 2017, Pakistan's limited overs team had quite a turnaround with impressive performances in ODIs and T20, unlike in prior years.

Definitely that had something to do with the injection of new blood.

At the same time, Pakistan's test performance declined with the departure of stalwarts and despite winning their first ever series in the Caribbean, Pakistan also lost their first ever series in the UAE since it became their adopted home.




As you can see, Pakistan was the best performing T20 team, the 4th best in ODIs, and a low 7th in tests.

Batting Performance in 2017

In Tests, Pakistan's batting did not do much to write about. Azhar Ali was the leading run scorer with an average of 42.00. With the departure of Misbah and Younis, the likes of Azhar and Asad will have to take charge as the new blood will surely take time to settle down in international cricket.

In ODIs and T20s, Babar Azam emerged as Pakistan's new star. He was among the leading run scorers in the world in both formats - 9th in ODIs and 2nd in T20s. Surprisingly, Ahmed Shehzad was also one of the top scorers in T20s.



In ODIs, Babar's average was behind only Kohli, Sharma, and Root. And his tally of hundreds was behind only Kohli and Sharma.

Bowling Performances in 2017

In Tests, Yasir Shah continue to shine for Pakistan ending the year with 43 wickets to his name in only 6 test matches. Imagine how many he would have taken had he played as much as some of the other bowlers.

Yasir was the only bowler to pick up an average of 7 wickets or more in the tests he played. No other bowlers averaged even 6 wickets per match.


ODIs were dominated by Pakistan's newest pace sensation - Hasan Ali - who improved with every game that he played.

No pacer came even close to his tally of wickets, average, and strike rate. He even had the most 5 wicket hauls in the year.

The only bowler who had a better average and strike rate than Hasan was Afghanistan's spin maestro Rashid Khan.


In T20s, it was young leg spinner, Shadab Khan, who impressed finishing the year with the 5th highest wickets. He had a very impressive economy rate as well, which was bettered by only Rashid Khan.


It seems like Pakistan's test team will take some time to get back to the heights they had reached with Misbah at the helm, coupled with Younis as the guiding force for the batting line up.

However, in limited overs, Pakistan should continue to impress with all the new youngsters standing up to be counted.

Pakistan's ODI team has not been this exciting since the 90s.

They have a talented opener in Fakhar Zaman and another one waiting in the wings - Imam Ul Haq. They have one of the most impressive batsman produced by the country in Babar Azam. The bowling stocks are abundant with spinners like Yasir Shah, Imad Wasim, and Shadab Khan; and a pace battery comprising Mohammed Aamer, Hasan Ali, Rumman Raees, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Abbas, and plenty waiting in the wings.

To top it all, the likes of Hassan, Faheem, Imad, and Shadab are all quite handy with the bat.

Surely we are in for some exciting times for Pakistan Cricket.

The rise of Pakistan's ODI and T20 teams, which is now ranked number 1, has been phenomenal. From winning the Champions Trophy to clean sweeping Sri Lanka, it has all unfolded with great thrill for Pakistan fans, and all of us are extremely excited for 2019 and rightly so.

Young blood has truly come to the fore and the rise of Babar Azam and Hasan Ali, coupled with the emergence of new stars like Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Imam Ul Haq, Imad Wasim, Rumman Raees, and Fahim Ashraf has really set the stage alight for Pakistan's limited overs team.

Here is a look back at what Babar Azam and Hasan Ali have achieved for Pakistan in recent times.

BABAR AZAM
The career of arguably Pakistan's best limited over batsman ever is unfolding right in front of our eyes and Pakistan's ODI batting has not looked this good since the days of Inzamam Ul Haq, which ended a decade ago.

Babar is currently ranked number 4 in the ICC Rankings, behind Kohli, ABD, and Warner.

Babar has rapidly risen the ranks and this year he is among the leading run scorers in ODIs with an average and century tally behind only the Indian duo of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.


Babar hit his first ODI century on 30 September 2016. Since then he has hit another 6 ODI centuries within a span of 12 months. During this period, he has hit the most ODI centuries, equal with Kohli and Warner, and his average is second only to Kohli.


All of Babar's 7 ODI centuries have come while batting at number 3. Out of all batsmen who have scored at least 1,000 runs while batting at number 3 in ODIs, Babar has the highest average ever, and he is miles ahead of everyone else.


Not only does Babar average better than all batsmen at number 3, he was also quickest to 1,000 runs at the position, breaking the previous record held by Sir Viv Richards.

He also got to 1,000 runs in ODIs quicker than any batsman from Pakistan and equaled the world record of 21 innings, which he jointly holds with Sir Viv Richards, Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott, and Quinton De Kock.


Babar is only 23 and has his entire career ahead of himself. He can achieve wonders and go on to become the best limited overs batsman ever produced by Pakistan.

HASAN ALI
Since making his ODI debut a year and a bit back, Hasan has risen to the status of being Pakistan's most potent striker with the ball. In just 26 ODIs, he has a tally of 56 wickets at a sub-20 average, and a strike rate of 23. In his last 9 ODIs he has picked up a whopping 26 wickets!

Hasan is currently the number 1 ranked bowler in the world. A feat that no pacer from Pakistan achieved since Wasim Akram was on top in 1994.

Hasan recently got to his 50th wicket in only his 24th ODI, breaking the Waqar Younis' record for Pakistan of being the fastest to the 50 wicket tally in ODIs. Hasan reached the tally in the joint second fewest number of ODIs among pacers and third overall.


Among all bowlers who have taken at least 50 wickets in ODIs, Hasan has the best strike rate and the best average EVER!


Hasan is also only 23 years old and has his entire career ahead of him.

Babar and Hasan have a lot to do with Pakistan's recent ODI success. They are on a streak of 9 consecutive ODI wins, which is their third best streak, behind the 10 they achieved in 1990 and their record of 12 achieved in 2008.

Both of them can take Pakistan to even greater heights in the future years.

1992. 2009. 2017.

Pakistan is the 4th team in the history of international cricket to win all three ICC tournaments and only the 3rd team to hold every single ICC trophy including the Test Mace.

That is an achievement.

In 2015, Pakistan were the 9th ranked ODI team and they had to beat Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka to move to qualify for this Champions Trophy. Now, Pakistan are on top of the world and they have got there by beating the best in the business.

That is remarkable.

Pakistan's win in this Champions Trophy is stuff dreams are made of. It is a fairy tale ending. It is a movie where in a make believe fantasy world the underdog does the unthinkable and you leave the theater saying "this only happens in movies".

Along their glorious victorious run, Pakistan created some records and left us with some amazing memories. Here's a look back at the magic the team and its players created yesterday in the final and over the past two weeks.

THE TEAM

Beat the Best
To be the Champions, one has to beat the best. Pakistan won this Champions Trophy by beating:

- World's number 1 ranked ODI team.
- Tournament Favorites.
- Defending Champions.

Highest Total in CT17
For a team that is not known for its aggressive batting or big hitting, a team that does not score 300 as often as it should, a team whose batsmen tend to play too cautiously, a team that is far behind global standards of modern day ODI cricket, put up the highest total of this Champions Trophy; and that too in the Final!


Highest Total in all Champions Trophies
Pakistan's 338-4 in the Final is the second highest total in a Champions Trophy match; it is the highest total against a test nation in Champions Trophy, and it is the highest total in a Champions Trophy Final.


Highest Total in Pakistan vs India ODIs
Pakistan's score was their second highest ever in ODIs against India and the highest score ever in a Pakistan vs India ODI played outside the Subcontinent and the UAE.


Largest Win in Champions Trophy
Pakistan's win the final by 180 runs is not only the largest win in a final of an ICC tournament, it is also the largest win against a test nation in all Champions Trophy matches ever.


Largest Win in Pakistan vs India ODIs
The win the final is also the largest win by runs in the history of ODIs between Pakistan and India.


This team achieved results that no one expected them to. The players did the same...

FAKHAR ZAMAN
The man of the moment, Fakhar Zaman has left everyone awestruck. In his debut ODI series, he improved with every match and showed his best in the final with a scintillating knock of 114. He provided Pakistan with the much needed impetus at the start of an innings in every match and showed the world that Pakistan can also play modern day ODI cricket.

Highest Strike Rate in CT17
Fakhar had such a remarkable tournament that he not only was the highest run scorer with the best average for Pakistan, he was 6th highest run scorer in the tournament, had the second highest strike rate in the tournament (Min: 100 Runs), and had the highest strike rate rate among all openers in the tournament.


Most Boundaries in CT17
He brings to Pakistan's team the much needed explosiveness at the top of the order, which is evident from the fact that he hit the second most number of boundaries in this Champions Trophy.


Highest Strike Rate in all Champions Trophies
Among all batsmen that have scored a minimum of 150 runs in Champions Trophy matches over the years, Fakhar has the second best strike rate. Among these batsmen, Fakhar has the third best average, behind Dhawan and Wallace.


Highest Score in a Champions Trophy Final
Fakhar Zaman's 114 in the final against India is the 6th century to be scored in a Champions Trophy final, the second highest score ever in a Champions Trophy final, and the highest score ever in a winning cause in a CT final.



HASSAN ALI
It was his first ever ICC tournament and he ended it with the Player of the Tournament Award and the Golden Ball Award for his 13 wickets. It has not even been a year since he made his debut for Pakistan and he has rapidly risen to become their primary spearhead. Besides the first match against India, Hasan took 3 wickets in each of the other matches and was instrumental in ensuring that Pakistan restrict South Africa, Sri Lanka, and England to chase-able totals. He continued his form in the final and played a part in India's destruction as well.

Highest Wicket Taker in CT17
Hasan's 13 wickets were the highest in this Champions Trophy. He was well ahead of the rest of the bowlers in terms of average and economy, and only behind Josh Hazlewood in terms of strike rate.


Best Average & Strike Rate in all Champions Trophies
Among all bowlers with at least 10 wickets in Champions Trophy matches, Hasan has the second best average, third best strike rate, and third best economy.


Most Wickets in a Champions Trophy
Hasan's 13 wicket haul in this Champions Trophy is the highest any bowler has taken in a single Champions Trophy. He sits equal with Jerome Taylor on this record, however at a much better average, strike rate, and economy.



AZHAR ALI
Many, including me, criticized his inclusion in the ODI team. Despite his sluggish strike rate, he formed a potent opening partnership with Fakhar and gave Pakistan two successive century opening stands in the semifinal and final.

The 118 run stand in the semifinal was Pakistan's first century opening partnership in over two years. The last time Pakistan's openers put on two successive opening partnerships was 14 years ago; in 2003 when Imran Farhat and Yasir Hameed unleashed against New Zealand.


Azhar was Pakistan's second highest run scorer (and 8th overall) in this Champions Trophy. His 3 fifties in the Champions Trophy were the most by any batsman (equal with Virat Kohli).

The primary concern with Azhar opening the batting is his strike rate. He is not a naturally aggressive batsman and struggles to rotate the strike. However, he improved with every match and also took on the role of an aggressor in both matches against India when his partner was struggling.

I will be the first to admit that I am a convert and I believe Azhar has a role to play in this ODI side, especially if the aggressors around him can play theirs.

MOHAMMAD HAFEEZ
He is another player who has been heavily criticized by one and all, including me. What is his role? Is he a batsman who bowls or a bowler who can bat? Where does he fit in the batting line up? There are so many questions about his role in the team that even the team management can't probably answer.

Hafeez's ability to rotate strike is nonexistent. Against India, he scored 33 off 43. Against South Africa, he was worse - 26 off 53. Against Sri Lanka, he couldn't even get going as he went for 1 off 5 deliveries.

In the semifinal against England, he walked in to bat with only 39 left for victory. Hafeez got 31 of them in only 21 deliveries. His innings included 3 fours and 2 sixes. It was like an innings that a younger Hafeez would have played while opening.

In the final, he continued where he left off against England. His unbeaten 57 off 37 deliveries took Pakistan well beyond the 300 run mark. He batted with aggression and his stroke play was immaculate.

Hafeez's strike rates in those two innings against England and India are the 4th and 5th best strike rates for an innings by a Pakistani batsmen in Champions Trophy. His 50 in the final was the second fastest 50 by a Pakistani batsmen in Champions Trophy.


Against India, he walked in to bat with 10 overs left in the innings. After all these years, we might have just discovered the best position for him to bat on.

MOHAMMAD AAMER
He has now been back in Pakistan colors for 18 months but he is not the same Aamer who left the scene in 2010. Since his return, Aamer has struggled with his swing, and wickets have been rare largely because of Pakistan's inept catching. He has been bowling well for quite some time, what was missing was the wicket taking ability.

Against India, in the Champions Trophy Final, he produced a magical spell, his best since his comeback, and had the tournament's top three run scorers back in the pavilion inside the first 9 overs. It was pure magic out there.

Not many bowlers can claim to have had the better of Virat Kohli. No bowler can claim that they got Kohli twice in two deliveries. But Aamer did just that. It was two perfect deliveries to the world's best batsman; the first one was edged and dropped at first slip; the second one had him caught at point.

Aamer's figures of 3-16 in the final are the second best bowling figures ever in Champions Trophy Finals. His average and economy being the best among these efforts.



JUNAID KHAN
Even though he was not Pakistan's first choice at the start of the tournament, he performed exceptionally well to end as the third highest wicket taker in this Champions Trophy. He forged a threatening new ball partnership with Aamer, and the duo combined at the death with some perfectly executed yorkers.

Junaid has a stellar record in ODIs, and despite falling behind due to injury and loss of form over the past couple of seasons, his partnership with Aamer forms a potent attack for Pakistan.

BABAR AZAM
Even though he did not reach the heights that he did against the West Indies earlier in the season, his scores of 31*, 38*, and 46 against South Africa, England, and India are enough to demonstrate his immense talent.

He remains the only batsman to average above 50 for Pakistan in ODIs and the future of Pakistan's batting is in safe hands with Fakhar and him in the top order.

SHOAIB MALIK, IMAD WASIM, RUMMAN RAEES, SHADAB KHAN, FAHEEM ASHRAF
Even though there was no major contribution from either of these players, they did enough to complement Pakistan's batting and bowling to show the talent that they possess.

Malik failed when he got a chance but he looked sublime in his innings against India (group game) before he was run out and against South Africa before the rain interruption.

Imad displayed control with both the new and old ball and kept the run rate in check every time he came on to bowl. In the final he turned it on with the bat too in the end overs showing his value to the team's lower order.

Rumman ad Faheem got only one match each and either could have easily played more if it were not for the better form with the ball of Pakistan's first choice trio. Both made their debuts during the Champions Trophy and showed that they have the ability to compete with the best at this level. Rumman's accuracy and Faheem's utility with bat and ball will prove to be invaluable for Pakistan in the future.

Shadab Khan is a superstar in the making. His bowling is spot on, he can hit hard with the bat, and his fielding is top notch. He owned the point region for Pakistan and is arguably the best fielders in the team. This boy has a long and bright future ahead.

SARFRAZ AHMED
Last but not least, Pakistan's captain, proved to be a leader. To come back and lift the troops after the decimation against India in their opening match, would have been no easy task. The way Sarfraz, along with the coaching staff, kept this team motivated and inspired in every match after that is a phenomenal effort.

Sarfraz did not get much opportunity to showcase his batting talent in this Champions Trophy, but the one time when a captain's knock was required to take Pakistan into the semifinals, he led from the front. His unbeaten 61 against Sri Lanka ensured a Pakistan win after they were looking down the barrel after being reduced to 162-7 while chasing 237.

In that match, Sarfraz's unbroken partnership of 75 with Mohammad Aamer for the 8th wicket, created a new Champions Trophy record for the highest 8th wicket partnership.


Sarfraz is only 30 and he can captain this side for a long time to come if he can show the same level headed approach that he did in this Champions Trophy. He seems to have formed a healthy relationship with Micky Arthur; nothing can be better for a team like Pakistan than to have a united Captain and Coach to lead the charges.

They have a young team under their wings. Shadab is still a teenager; Babar is 22; Hasan and Faheem are 23; Aamer and Rumman are 25; Fakhar and Junaid are 27; Imad is 28. Only Azhar, Hafeez, and Malik are above 30.

This Champions Trophy win is just the start for this core group of players and they will play together for a long time to come. These boys can truly make Pakistan the ODI powerhouse that they once used to be.

In Champions Trophy 2013, Pakistan lost all their group matches. In 2015, Pakistan had to beat Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka in order to qualify for Champions Trophy 2015. When they lost their first group match to India, Pakistan had lost 6 successive Champions Trophy matches.

Now they are in the Final.

Only Pakistan can take you through such a rollercoaster ride.

Cricket doesn't get bigger than Pakistan vs India. When it is a final of a tournament, it is even bigger. And when it is a final of an ICC tournament, it is the biggest!

Pakistan and India have met thrice in knock out matches in an ICC tournament and all three matches have resulted in heartbreaks for Pakistan's fans. The pressure of all the heartbreaks caused in Bangalore '96, Johannesburg '07, and Mohali '11 is on Sarfraz Ahmed and his young team.

Over 100 million fans will be praying for this Pakistan team to achieve what Wasim, Waqar, Inzamam, Miandad, Misbah, Afridi, and Younis could not over the past 20 years.

The odds however are heavily in India's favor.

Even though the record reads 2-2 in ICC Champions Trophy, it is 3-0 to India in ICC knock out games, and 12-2 to India in all ICC tournaments.

On top of that, India arguably have the best batting line up, not only in this Champions Trophy, but in the world.

Moreover, they are led by the world's best ODI batsman whose last 6 innings against Pakistan in ICC tournaments look like this:

78* at WorldT20 2012
22* at Champions Trophy 2013
36* at World T20 2014
107 at World Cup 2015
55* at World T20 2016
81* at Champions Trophy 2017

How do you tame a batsman like that? How do you tame a batting line up that is leading the runs charts in the Champions Trophy? How do you tame a team that you have not beaten in any form of the game in over 3 years? How do you tame a team that trounced you by 124 runs less than two weeks ago?

Sarfraz and Micky Arthur will be pondering about the same questions.

The answers are Pakistan's bowlers. It is them who have got Pakistan this far, and it is them who can take them to the trophy.

Hasan Ali is the leading wicket taker in this Champions Trophy, while Junaid Khan, who was not played against India, is among the top 5.

In a tournament, which was billed as high scoring with 300 runs considered a par score, Pakistan has 7 bowlers who have an economy rate of below 5 in this Champions Trophy.

Three of Pakistan's bowlers have a bowling average below 20 in this Champions Trophy.

Three of Pakistan's bowlers are picking up wickets every 4 overs in this Champion Trophy.

Pakistan's bowlers have restricted teams to under 240 in three successive games in a tournament where other bowlers are being smashed around for 300+ scores.

Only India managed to thrash Pakistan's bowlers around; however the story may have been different had Pakistan played the right team (Junaid instead of Wahab) and had Pakistan not dropped two key catches.

Bowling is Pakistan's strength, it has been forever, and the way they have leveraged on this strength in this tournament has been phenomenal. Realizing their limited batting capability, Pakistan ensured their bowlers restricted oppositions to a total that gave them chaseable targets within Pakistan's range.

This is how they will tame India. It is the only way.

Junaid Khan has played 5 ODIs against India, in which he has picked up 8 wickets at an average of 20. In the series in 2012, Junaid snared Kohli in each of the 3 ODIs for single digit scores.

Makes you wonder why they preferred Wahab over him in the group game.

Junaid will be key for Pakistan. As will be Aamer and Hasan Ali.

Pakistan's only chance on Sunday is to put a brake on India's batting juggernaut. If they can do that, then Pakistan will join India, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies in an elite group of nations who have won all ICC trophies - The World Cup, World T20, and Champions Trophy.

Two years ago, Pakistan had to beat Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka in order to qualify for the Champions Trophy 2017; and now they find themselves in the final of the Champions Trophy for the first time ever.

It is their 5th ICC Final overall and their 1st in an ICC ODI tournament in 18 years.

It has been quite a turnaround for Pakistan after being decimated by India in the opening match of the Champions Trophy. Especially considering that they first overcame the world's number 1 ODI team in the group stages and then thrashed the world's strongest ODI side, tournament favorites, and hosts in the semifinal.

Maybe the rain saved them against South Africa; maybe it was an ugly victory over Sri Lanka; but it was an emphatic and dominant win over England. Something that other teams have not been able to manage over the past two years.

Pakistan did not improve their batting. They didn't all of a sudden start hitting 300+ scores. What Pakistan did is adopt a strategy to choke the opposition, bundle them out for 200 odd scores, and chase.

South Africa were restricted to 219. Sri Lanka to 236. England to 211.

In a tournament and in a day and age where 300 is considered par, this is a phenomenal performance.

No other team has been able to restrict oppositions in this manner. Not England, not Australia, not India, not South Africa, not anyone.

HASAN ALI

At the top of this resurgence has been Hasan Ali, Pakistan's newest pace sensation from Mandi Bahauddin. He is the leading wicket taker in this Champions Trophy with 10 scalps and he has very rapidly become Pakistan's main strike weapon.

The best part about Hasan Ali's wickets is that he has picked up the big ones, the key wickets that every captain wants his bowler to get. Take a look at the names who have fallen to Hasan:

Yuvraj Singh
Faf Du Plessis
JP Duminy
Kusal Mendis
Asela Gunaratne
Johnny Bairstow
Eoin Morgan
Ben Stokes

Hasan Ali now has 39 wickets in 20 ODIs, which is the most by any Pakistani bowler in his first 20 ODIs.

Junaid Khan has also been superb for Pakistan. With every game he has shown how the selectors and management were wrong to ignore him for so long. He should have played against India!

Pakistan is the only team in this Champions Trophy whose entire bowling line up has an economy rate of below 5. No surprise that all 6 of their bowlers are among the top 15 in terms of economy rate among all bowlers who have bowled a minimum of 20 overs.



FAKHAR ZAMAN

Pakistan's batting still has to improve significantly. The batsmen still do not play at a high strike rate, nor do they rotate strike as effectively as batsmen from other teams.

Despite majority of their batting being old fashioned, Pakistan has unearthed a gem in Fakhar Zaman. He has led the way in scoring rapidly at the top of the order and shown the world that Pakistan too has some aggressive batsmen who can play modern day ODI cricket.

Not only does he find boundaries often, Fakhar also rotates strike very effectively. He needs to hold lessons for the likes of Azhar Ali and Mohammad Hafeez,

Fakhar has been so good that he has the highest strike rate in the Champions Trophy (for all batsmen with over 100 runs) and that too by some margin. He is one of the two batsmen with a strike rate of over 100 and the only opener with a strike rate of over 100.

And this is his debut ODI series!

Fakhar has brought in some much needed liveliness to Pakistan's batting, which is hampered by a few batsmen who can't manage a strike rate above 70.

This has been one impressive campaign for Pakistan who have gone from strength to strength with every game.

They have set up a likely first ever final with India in an ICC ODI tournament. Sunday in London will be an epic and historic day.

With the momentum that Pakistan has gained over the past week, it is going to be hard to stop them. If they can manage the unthinkable and topple India, Pakistan's campaign would have come full circle in an absolutely dramatic manner.