As England and Wales gear up to host yet another edition of the ICC Champions Trophy in the middle of next year (2017), Edgbaston has managed to rope in one of the most enticing fixtures in the world of cricket. The ‘Men in Blue’ have been officially drawn in the same group as their arch rivals, Pakistan and they are set to take on each other at Edgbaston on 4 June 2017.
An Indo-Pakistan match in an ICC tournament always garners a lot of attention and the organisers can be sure of at least two things before the high-voltage encounter: record attendance and extremely high television rating points.
Having said that, although the ‘Men in Blue’ have an extremely impressive record against their north-western neighbours in all the ICC tournaments combined, Pakistan do have a certain edge over India when it comes to the ICC Champions Trophy. While the ‘Men in Green’ have come out on top on two previous occasions in the coveted tournament, India have only managed to wrap up a single victory back in 2013.
However, the Indians have an impressive 11-0 lead over Pakistan in all World Cups (50-over and T20 combined). The Men in Blue’s most recent triumph over Pakistan came earlier this year at the World T20.
Steered by Virat Kohli’s magnificent 37-ball 50, India went on to post a 6-wicket victory over Pakistan in the ICC World T20 group stage encounter that took place at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Looking at the current form of the two teams, it would be quite to say that India will head into the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy encounter as firm favourites. And 37-year-old former Indian cricketer, Virender Sehwag has gone on to tweet about the Men in Blue’s higher odds to win the highly anticipated fixture; however, with a twist.
The former explosive Indian opening batsman, who has been very active on Twitter lately has posted an image of the 2017 Champions Trophy fixture on the social networking site with the caption: “Wow! Just 1 year remaining for #IndVPak. Request brothers from Pak to please not break ur TV sets.”
He also added #HaarJeetLagiRehtiHain ever so subtlely which surely adds an insult to the injury as far as the Pakistani cricket fans are concerned.
Here is the Nawab of Najafgarh’s hilarious tweet that would surely make you roll in the aisles:
Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download CricRocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more! 🚀☄️
