As on the expected lines ahead of the Champions Trophy, the war of words has begun between Indian and Pakistani fans. The Men in Blue, who had declined to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy, are now facing the wrath of the Pakistani fans. For the unversed, the BCCI rejected PCB's offer of not allowing India to play CT matches in Pakistan due to political reasons. Rohit Sharma & Co will play all their matches in Dubai.
The hosting snub by India has angered Pakistani fans a lot as they expected the mouth-watering INDO-PAK clash to happen in their backyard. According to renowned Pakistan journalist Farid Khan, Pakistani fans have sent a clear message to Mohammad Rizwan & Co stating, "to not hug Virat Kohli and other Indian players".Â
In a video posted by Farid, Pakistani fans want their players to keep the friendship aside, and concentrate on beating India instead. While India have dominated their arch-rival in the ODI World Cups and the T20 World Cups, in the Champions Trophy Rohit Sharma & Co have not had a wood over Pakistan as they have a 2-3 head-to-head record.
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The last of those defeats in CT came in the final of the 2017 edition, where Fakhar Zaman's century enabled Pakistan to lift the trophy for the first time in England.
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Sarfaraz Ahmed on Pakistan's Champions Trophy win in 2017
Sarfaraz Ahmed, who captained Pakistan in their title-winning CT run, shared a few insights from that famous final win against India.
"Afterwards (following defeat to India in the group stage), we had a great team meeting, and some of our senior guys - Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez - all said their piece. You need those types of characters around you. We changed our mindset from that day. The acrimony was very good for us, we made a couple of changes to the team and it helped our confidence," said the former captain as quoted by ICC.
