Champions Trophy final: Brace for 'Sunday Stunner' as India, Pakistan clash

India has beaten Pakistan in each of their past 5 matches across formats

As arch-rivals India and Pakistan on Sunday clash in the final tie of the Champions Trophy, 2017, cricket enthusiasts are in for some treat. While Indian skipper Virat Kohli has already stated that he does not see any need for a change in the side to beat Pakistan a second time in the tournament, Pakistan has now been playing much better than it did when it was handed a humiliating 124-run defeat in the opening match of this edition of the Champions Trophy.

Even as the two neighbouring nations have not been playing any bilateral cricket games for a while now, they have been meeting in multi-nation events like the Asia Cup and ICC World Cup. For the record, India has beaten Pakistan in each of their past five matches, either one-day internationals or T20s. And, interestingly, Virat Kohli has not only been part of India's playing 11 on each occasion, but also been the man of the match in three of the past five games.

For both Kohli and his Pakistan counterpart Sarfraz Ahmed, this year’s Champions Trophy is their first instance of leading their respective senior national sides in the finals of an ICC tournament. However, neither is new to the big league. As youngsters, both Kohli and Ahmed led their respective under-19 national teams to World Cup victories – while Ahmed was the captain of the Pakistan U-19 side that took home the 2006 junior World Cup Trophy, Kohli’s Indian under-19 clinched the Trophy in the 2008 edition of the junior World Cup.

Coming back to the present, a final between India and Pakistan in this ICC tournament, as always, is a dream come true for fans. It will be played at The Oval in London.

This clash is big also because it is after a gap of 10 years that the arch-rivals are facing each other in a summit clash. The previous time it happened was at the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in 2007, where India became the first ever World T20 winner after beating Pakistan by five runs at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa.