Kolkata: So the league stage in the Champions Trophy are done with and now it is time for the knockout matches to take centre stage as England is set to take on Pakistan in the first semi-finals tomorrow at the Sophia Gardens.
For the past 42 years, England has been in search of an ICC trophy in the 50-overs format. They came up agonizingly short by just five runs against India four years ago in the same tournament as the then Mahendra Singh Dhoni led side went on to grab the silverware in the rain-hit final which was reduced to 20-overs a side.
Much to everyone’s surprise, they were eliminated quite early in the World Cup two years later and this posed some serious questions about their performances in ODI cricket.
But they took all the criticism under their chin and have made remarkable progress since then. As a matter of fact, it was just last year in a game against their semi-final opponents that they racked up a humongous 444 in their 50 overs.
This competition hence becomes the platform where their development as an ODI side becomes complete. They have been really phenomenal this entire tournament, remaining unbeaten in the group stages and have by far, been one of the most best sides in this tournament.
They have a complete team with a solid top order, a reliable middle order and a good mix of bowlers who can win games single-handedly.
Opener Alex Hales, Joe Root, skipper Eoin Morgan seems to be batsmen around whom the entire batting revolves. Jason Roy, who hasn’t performed well with the bat might make way for Johnny Bairstow.
All-rounder Ben Stokes has indeed been one of the best in the business so far as he has proved to be an asset, both with the ball and the bat. The bowling too has been fabulous as Mark Wood, Liam Plunkett, Jake Ball have all struck with the ball in crunch situations and have delivered whenever their captain needed a breakthrough.
On the contrary, the Pakistani team has had a bit of a mixed tournament so far. Losing their opening game to arch-rivals India by a whopping 124 runs in Edgebaston, they came back hard and strong to dismantle the South Africans in order to stay alive in the competition.
But a perennial problem that they seem to have is with their batting which is just not clicking at the moment- the match against Sri Lanka being a testimony to that. A virtual quarter-final, their bowlers did well to restrict the Lankans to 236 but their batsmen panicked which saw Sri Lanka making a comeback.
At the end it was their captain, Sarfaraz Ahmed who came to the rescue with a gutsy 61* to help them cross the line and set up a clash against hosts England. But newfound opener Fakhar Zaman has been one of the finds of this tournament as he has looked in good touch in the two games he has played so far in the tournament as well in his international career.
On the bowling front, they have done quite well with the pace trio of Mohammad Amir, Junaid Khan and Hasan Ali consistently bowling in the good areas to create problems for the opposition.
Facing a mighty England side would indeed be tough for the men in green but unpredictability is something that cannot be taken out of the equation, although the hosts would enter into the game as the favourites to book a berth in the final.
But can the Pakistanis give England a tough fight in the intense encounter?
The Sophia Gardens in Cardiff might be in a riveting encounter.