Mohammad Amir’s six-over spell in the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy will be remembered by all and sundry for years to come but the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday snubbed the left-arm pacer from the team of the tournament.
Amir bagged five wickets in 34.1 overs in the four matches he played with an economy of 4.41 and unarguably all those scalps changed the shape of the matches for his captain Sarfraz Ahmed.
He went wicketless against India and South Africa but against Sri Lanka he dismissed two settled batsmen — Angelo Mathews and Niroshan Dickwella — who looked set to take the game away from Pakistan.
He then missed the semi-final against England due to back spasms but came back even stronger for Pakistan in the final where he returned figures of 16-3 in his six overs. And if the numbers are not enough, he dismissed India’s ferocious top-order trio of openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, and the world’s best ODI batsman Virat Kohli.
Four Pakistanis make the cut
The team, which includes seven players from the two finalists, is led by none other than the winning captain Sarfraz.
His 76 runs and nine dismissals behind the stumps coupled with effective captaincy earned him the plaudit over the likes of Kohli, New Zealand’s Kane Williamson (12th man with 244 runs), Joe Root (number five with 258 runs) and most expensive 2017 Indian Premier League catch Ben Stokes (number six with 184 runs and three wickets).
Meanwhile, Fakhar Zaman (252 runs) was placed as an opener alongside India’s Shikhar Dhawan (338 runs), with Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal (293) as one-down.
Player of the tournament and the golden ball winner Hasan Ali (13 wickets) alongside Pakistan’s left-arm pacer Junaid Khan (eight wickets) are a part of the three-pronged attack with includes India’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar (seven wickets).
England leggie Adil Rashid (seven wickets) is included as a spinner in the team.
ICC’s team of 2017 Champions Trophy
i) Shikhar Dhawan
ii) Fakhar Zaman
iii) Tamim Iqbal
iv) Virat Kohli
v) Joe Root
vi) Ben Stokes
vii) Sarfraz Ahmed (captain)
viii) Adil Rashid
ix) Junaid Khan
x) Bhuvneshwar Kumar
xi) Hassan Ali
xii) Kane Williamson
