TTENNISENNIS | Page 3 RUGBY | Page 5 Lopez to face Scotland end Pouille for Wallabies Stuttgart misery with Open title fi ghting victory Sunday, June 18, 2017 FOOTBALL Ramadan 23, 1438 AH Troubled Ronaldo GULF TIMES eyes more silver in Confederations Cup SPORT Page 7 BLOCKBUSTER! BLUE CORNER While India are the favourites, will Pakistan’s late GREEN CORNER run in the ICC Champions Trophy culminate in an Captain upset of epic proportions? Arthur Kohli calm says India ahead of ‘aberration’ today’s fi nal behind Pak AFP as Twitter. AFP impressive Pakistan pace at- London “The biggest thing is to London tack featuring Hasan Ali, the stay off social media,” he tournament’s leading wick- said. “If you’re too distracted et-taker. ndia captain Virat Kohli listening to too many sug- akistan coach And Arthur believes that if said staying “close to re- gestions or players or criti- Mickey Arthur is Pakistan can strike with the ality” was the best way cism, then you can’t focus confi dent his side’s new ball, they will have the to carry the hopes of a on what you need to think group-stage “aber- chance to test an India mid- Icricket-crazy nation head- as a sportsman fi rst to be Pration” against title-hold- dle order who have hardly ing into a Champions Trophy able to lead the team and ers India will have no bear- been required to bat dur- fi nal against arch-rivals Pa- then help the others in the ing when they face their ing this Champions Trophy, kistan. team as well. arch-rivals again in to- with the likes of openers Today’s showpiece match “The more relaxed you day’s Champions Trophy Rohit Sharma and Shikhar at the Oval in London is a stay in these situations fi nal at the Oval. Dhawan, as well as captain 24,500 sell-out, with mil- it’s a good thing, because When the Asian giants and star No 3 Virat Kohli pil- lions more around the world it helps you take better met in their tournament ing on the runs. expected to watch the high- decisions when you are opener at Edgbaston on “Our strength has been profi le match. composed and calm men- June 4, India thrashed Paki- the fact that we’ve been able Reigning champions In- tally.” stan by 124 runs. to take wickets, and we’ve dia are the favourites, having Kohli’s cool tempera- Arthur, a former coach of been able to take wickets launched their title-defence ment has often been seen both his native South Africa consistently through the with a 124-run thrashing of to good eff ect in many and Australia, labelled Pa- middle periods,” explained Pakistan at Birmingham’s a run chase, a qual- kistan’s performance that Arthur. Edgbaston on June 4. ity which could yet prove day as “shambolic”. “If we can get amongst A lone loss to Sri Lanka useful today. But Pakistan, the lowest- them with the new ball, we apart, India have been in “If you are thinking ‘we ranked side in a tourna- can expose the middle order commanding form. are three down and I might ment featuring the world’s that hasn’t batted much in Kohli’s own performances get out’, then you will get leading eight one-day this competition — so that’s at the Champions Trophy out,” he said. international nations, pretty much our aim and fo- have seen him return to the “If you’re thinking ‘we’re bounced back to beat top- cus.” top of the one-day interna- three down, I’m going to seeded South Africa and tional batting rankings. counter-attack and get the then held their nerve in a ‘BEAT ANYBODY’ His four innings, including team back on track’, it ends tense virtual quarter-fi nal Pakistan’s run to the fi nal has three not outs, have left him up happening, because with Sri Lanka in Cardiff once again led to many com- with a colossal tournament you’re convinced about it. on Monday. ments about their notorious batting average of 253 head- “That’s something I Two days later, again in “unpredictability”. ing into the fi nal. work on. I visualise a lot, the Welsh capital, Paki- But Arthur, who took This week also saw the and I see myself in diffi cult stan produced a brilliant charge shortly before last 28-year-old Kohli become situations and actually all-round display to ham- year’s tour of England, al- the fastest man to score convincing myself that I mer previously unbeaten ways believed they could go 8,000 ODI runs, reaching the can pull the team out in tournament hosts Eng- all the way in this tourna- landmark in 175 innings — those situations. land by eight wickets in a ment. seven fewer than South Af- “It won’t happen every lopsided semi-fi nal. “I don’t think we’ve ex- rica star AB de Villiers’s 182. time, but eight out of 10 Now, with left-arm ceeded expectations at all,” Kohli already has 27 ODI times it will end up hap- paceman Mohamed Amir he said ahead of what will centuries to his name, with pening because you’re so returning to the side af- be Pakistan’s fi rst match of a career strike-rate in excess convinced about it.” ter a back spasm ruled the competition at the Oval, of 91, and such has been the Meanwhile Kohli played him out of the England having played all their pre- passionate drive with which down the importance of a match, Arthur believes vious fi xtures at either Bir- he has led India that his for- group win against a Paki- there will be no repeat mingham’s Edgbaston or tunes and those of the team as stan side who have since of their woeful pool Cardiff . a whole now seem indivisible. defeated top-ranked showing against India “We had the mantra ‘we South Africa and Sri when the latest edition want to get to London’. Well, ‘CALM’ Lanka in pool play before of world cricket’s most we got to London — we want “I know there are expecta- thrashing previously high-profi le contest to go one step further now,” tions, I know there are peo- unbeaten tournament takes place in London. Arthur added. ple that expect the team and hosts England by eight “The India game was “The way the players me to do well every time we wickets in the semi- an aberration,” Arthur dragged themselves off the play,” Kohli told reporters at fi nals. told reporters at the canvas after the beating at the Oval yesterday. “On their day they Oval yesterday. Edgbaston was amazing... “But I understand as a can beat any side in “What we’ve pro- They’ve been really special.” player and as a person that the world,” said Kohli duced after that Sunday’s match could, it’s not possible.” of Pakistan. doesn’t come as according to some esti- He added: “You have to be “That’s the kind any surprise, be- mates, attract a global tel- close to reality. of players they have, cause that’s how we evision audience of a billion “This (pressure) is a part we’re quite aware of trained, and that’s and Arthur was in no doubt of being an Indian cricketer, that,” added Kohli, what we worked at. of the significance of a win you have to fi nd a way to deal with India ham- “It was very dis- over India. with it. You can’t ignore it. mering Bangla- appointing to see “I just know it’ll mean a “You have to maintain a desh by nine wick- that go wrong in the massive amount to them,” he balance and then focus on ets in Thursday’s Indian game, but... said. what you need to do on the second semi-fi nal We’ve closed the “There’s a hell of a good fi eld. I think I’ve been able at Edgbaston. chapter on that. vibe in that dressing room. to strike a good balance until “But, at the “That was an ab- Let’s hope we can put our now and I’m sure I’ll be fi ne same time, neither erration. We’re ‘A’ game again together to- tomorrow.” are we too intimi- now moving for- morrow — because if we Meanwhile Kohli said it dated nor are we too ward.” can, and I said it before the was important for players to arrogant about what Amir’s return England game, we can beat ration their use of sites such we are doing.” bolsters an already anybody.” Gulf Times 2 Sunday, June 18, 2017 CRICKET ICC CHAMPIONS TROPHY Pakistan cling to spirit of Miandad rather than ghost Sarfraz’s Pakistan have the look of destiny’s children before today’s final of Chetan Sharma against a Kohli-inspired India By Dileep Premachandran relative detente of the early years of this cen- The Guardian tury, political ties have been Arctic frosty over the last decade. Cricket, once seen as a builder of bridges between the two countries, is now ack in the intensely hot summer of hostage to political agendas on both sides, and 2005, India and Pakistan played a there has been just one bilateral series – three six-match ODI series that wound its ODIs in India in 2012-13 – since Pakistan came way from Kochi in the deep south to to India in late 2007.