Pakistan’s road to the finals of the Champions Trophy has been anything but steady.

After suffering a loss to India by 124 runs in their opening match of the tournament, few would have predicted Pakistan to go all the way into the finals. Finals are a far cry as pundits predicted them to crash out of the tournament after the group stage. However, rain-gods, some brilliant luck and some good performances saw Pakistan propel themselves to the finals.

Speaking about this turnaround, skipper Sarfraz Ahmed said, “After the India game, the credit goes to the team management how they boosted us. Every game was a knockout game. Today as well they told us to not think about the match and just play the natural game. That helped us. Both teams are playing really well, all the best to them (India and Bangladesh). He (Hasan Ali) is very energetic and he is bowling well. If he takes wickets for us in the final that will help us for sure.”

The role of Hassan Ali has been crucial for Pakistan’s success. He has bowled in the middle overs and picked up wickets consistently. He currently leads the charts with the most wickets. However, it must be remembered here that Pakistan’s journey to the finals has been anything but steady. After a dramatic loss to India, they won against South Africa courtesy of DLS. Against Sri Lanka as many as three catches were dropped and added to that was some woeful fielding. The lacklustre fielding saw Sri Lanka crash out of the Champions Trophy as they lost their final group game against Pakistan.

After that win skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed himself could not believe it and said, “I can’t believe it. But drop catches are part of the game. Allah helped us and that’s why Pakistan won today.”

In this path to the final of the Champions Trophy, Pakistan has truly lived up to its tag of unpredictables.