New Delhi:
Defending champs India take on arch-rivals Pakistan in a high voltage clash of the Champions Trophy at Edgbaston on Sunday.
India are drawn in Group B with Pakistan, Sri Lanka and South Africa. India are currently placed at the number three spot in the ICC One Day rankings and go into the tournament as one of the strong title contenders. India won the last edition of the tournament in 2013 by beating hosts England in the finals.Meanwhile Pakistan are currently placed at the bottom of the table and are relatively inexperienced as compared to their Indian counterparts.
Here are ten Interesting facts about India vs Pakistan in Champions Trophy
1. The clash between India and Pakistan on June 4 at will be the fourth between the arch rivals in Champions Trophy history.
2. India and Pakistan have clashed three times in Champions Trophy. Pakistan has won two of those encounters while India managing to win one.
3. Edgbaston ground at Birmingham shall play host to India-Pakistan contest for the third time in Champions Trophy. The two sides met each other at the same venue in 2004 and 2013.
4. Shoaib Malik is the only player to have featured in all previous 3 India-Pakistan Champions Trophy contests
5. Best bowling figures in an innings by an Indian bowler is 4 wickets by Ashish Nehra (4/55 in 2009),
6. Best bowling figures in an innings by Pakistan bowler against India in Champions Trophy Naveed-ul-Hasan (4/25 in 2004) and Shoaib Akhtar (4/36 in 2004)
7. The match will be first as captain for Virat Kohli at a major ICC event. The same holds good for Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed.
8. Shoiab Malik is the lone centurion in India-Pakistan matches at Champions Trophy. He hit 128 off 126 in 2009 to help his team win by 54 runs at Centurion, South Africa
9 None of the Indian batsmen have ever scored a century against Pakistan in Champions Trophy
10 Nine Indians (Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav) and Pakistan's 3 (Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Junaid Khan) from the current squads played in the 2013 edition match
