England, the only undefeated team in the tournament until that point, were among the favourites to reach the final, but Pakistan dominated with both the bat and ball to outclass the hosts and set up a title clash with India.
Now, Tweeple are assuming that India's victory over Bangladesh is a direct challenge to Team Pakistan. "We are going to play positive cricket against India in the final", he said.
In a video shared by the Dawn, highest wicket-taker in this tournament, Hasan Ali talked about his performance and his plans in the all-important final against Virat Kohli-led Indian side.
"They have beaten sides that looked really strong against them, but the belief just showed on the field the way they played together as a team, and you know, regardless of who you play in the finals, it's always going to be challenging because once you start thinking that it's a big game, then your mindset changes", the skipper gave a peek into the mindset of an worldwide team.
Everyone had written off Pakistan after they opened their campaign with a loss but captain Sarfraz Ahmed, in the pre and post-match press conferences, kept insisting that they will not give up on playing positive and attacking cricket. "But things can change, and this is the time for us to change the tag that we don't perform well at ICC events", he said".
"India have a very good batting line-up and if they put up a big total it will bring pressure on us".
Meanwhile Azhar said there was no hiding from the scale of a fixture which, mainly because of political pressure, rarely takes place outside of a major global tournament.
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"Yes, its a dream game for not only both the teams but also for the billions of fans and advertisers as well as organizers", said Azhar. "India refuse to play against us [on tours to Pakistan's home series in the United Arab Emirates]".
"But (now) on the biggest stage it is India v Pakistan". "It is bigger than the Ashes - and expectation is high from both nations, insane about cricket".
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"I thought we were in a very good situation to score 300-320, that would have been a different game", said Shakib. "We didn't expect to win by nine wickets, but that's the quality of our top order".
Given that Bhuvneshwar Kumar, India's most successful bowler, has taken six wickets so far, it will take something special to stop Hasan from finishing as the leading wicket-taker in a tournament featuring the world's top eight one-day worldwide sides.
But following what coach Mickey Arthur labelled a "shambolic" display, Pakistan recovered to beat South Africa, the top-ranked team in this eight-nation one-day worldwide tournament.
"I believe in my boys. if we win it would be a great gift to the whole nation".
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