ICC Champions Trophy: Rizwan & Co. serve a notice with record chase

There are ominous signs from the Pakistan camp, hosts of the ICC Champions Trophy, that they could be a serious contender for retaining the crown – albeit at a gap of eight years. Their record ODI chase, when Mohammad Rizwan & Co overhauled a target of 353 against South Africa in Karachi have not only propelled them to the final of the tri-series against New Zealand on Friday, but underlined the potential of the green shirts on batting-friendly wickets which will be on offer in the ICC tournament.

They shut out the Proteas by six wickets in an epic chase on Wednesday – built around a record 260-run partnership for the fourth wicket by Rizwan (122 not out off 128 balls) and Salman Agha’s maiden ODI century (134 off 103). They came together when the Pakistan chase was beginning to get unstuck and surpassed the previous record of 206 for the fourth wicket between Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan against India in 2009.

Is it a case of Pakistan doing ‘Pakistan things’? Not quite, if one reviews their performance in this format over the last few months – which included an away series win in Australia in November and then a 3-0 sweep over the Proteas at their backyard. Granted that South Africa were without the services of their pace warhead Anrich Nortje and Gerald Coetzee on Wednesday, but the centurion duo’s composed approach in taking down such a stiff target must be a welcome augury for their fans at home.

‘’When God helps, you break all kinds of records,’’ said an ever-smiling Rizwan. ‘’We were looking to restrict them to 320 but Klaasen took them to 350. When we were going back after the first innings, Khushdil (Shah) said we had chased 350 before, so those were inspiring words.’’

 The Pakistan captain is all-heart in his approach – one who appears to be more of an instinctive leader rather than tactical acumen – but he has stood out in tricky chases in both the white ball formats several times in his career. An interesting anecdote about his resilience is during the 2021 T20 World Cup in Dubai, Rizwan had to be hospitalised with a severe chest infection on the eve of their big game against India, but he bounced back to figure in a brilliant chase with then captain Babar Azam.

It was the first time Pakistan had turned the tables on India in a ICC tournament – from where Rizwan and his men may want to draw inspiration from for their 23 February encounter in Dubai. The absence of Jasprit Bumrah certainly creates a big hole in the Indian bowling line-up and Pakistan will only be too keen to derive a psychological edge.

Given the format of the ICC Champions Trophy, where top two teams from each of the four-team groups make it to the semi-finals, Pakistan are expected to make the cut along with India.

Asked if they can build on their current form and lapse into their unpredictability tag, Rizwan offered an interesting take: ‘’The answer to this is very long because the unpredictability factor is mainly due to our culture. It’s always been the case. Our kids don’t know what to do in life. It’s a rarity that we win games one-sided. We are putting the efforts, but this is not our cricket’s fault alone, our culture has always been like this. Even our kids’ future is unpredictable.’’