Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur is confident his side’s group-stage “aberration” against title-holders India will have no bearing when they face their arch-rivals again in Sunday’s Champions Trophy final at the Oval.
When the Asian giants met in their tournament opener at Edgbaston on June 4, India thrashed Pakistan by 124 runs.
Arthur, a former coach of both his native South Africa and Australia, labelled Pakistan’s performance that day as “shambolic”.
But Pakistan, the lowest-ranked side in a tournament featuring the world’s leading eight one-day international nations, bounced back to beat top-seeded South Africa and then held their nerve in a tense virtual quarter-final with Sri Lanka in Cardiff on Monday.
Two days later, again in the Welsh capital, Pakistan produced a brilliant all-round display to hammer previously unbeaten tournament hosts England by eight wickets in a lopsided semi-final.
Now, with left-arm paceman Mohammad Amir returning to the side after a back spasm ruled him out of the England match, Arthur believes there will be no repeat of their woeful pool showing against India when the latest edition of world cricket’s most high-profile contest takes place in London.
“The India game was an aberration,” Arthur told reporters at the Oval on Saturday.
“What we’ve produced after that doesn’t come as any surprise, because that’s how we trained, and that’s what we worked at.
“It was very disappointing to see that go wrong in the Indian game, but… We’ve closed the chapter on that.
“That was an aberration. We’re now moving forward.”
Amir’s return bolsters an already impressive Pakistan pace attack featuring Hasan Ali, the tournament’s leading wicket-taker.
And Arthur believes that if Pakistan can strike with the new ball, they will have the chance to test an India middle order who have hardly been required to bat during this Champions Trophy, with the likes of openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, as well as captain and star No 3 Virat Kohli piling on the runs.