Will 1947 'United' India clinch the Champions Trophy 2017

As the three nations once part of united India enter the semi finals, the credit should naturally go to the greatness of the gentleman's game cricket

Hyderabad: With India, Pakistan and Bangladesh – all three nations once part of 'United' India – entering the semi finals – of one of the the most watched sporting events, the credit should actually go to the glory and greatness of the gentleman's game cricket. Whether you call it a stroke of luck or sheer coincidence a larger part of this sub-continent was once ruled by the British East India Company till 1947, and now decades later it's in London that they would be vying with each other for the ICC Champions Trophy.

The interesting part of this Champions Trophy is that out of eight cricket playing nations that have participated in the tournament, three are from Asia who made it into the semi finals of the Mini World Cup.

No wonder in all these three countries cricket is treated like religion. Fans from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh supported their teams in a big way throughout the tournament.

England is the country where this game originated, but became popular in the whole world, especially in the Indian subcontinent. To slip into a brief history, till 1947 these countries were the colonies of the British empire. Since then this game has earned huge popularity among the masses and also being played on a large scale among youths in these countries.

In the group A, Bangladesh cricket team has improved their batting, bowling and fielding and as a result they finished at number 2 in their group standings. They defeated a balanced New Zealand side by 5 wickets.

Host England continued their good all round performance and defeated all other teams in their group and stormed into the semis.

In group B, defending champions and favorites India defeated arch rival Pakistan and South Africa to book their place in the semi-final.

By doing this they made sure that they are still in the race to defend the trophy. On the other hand after loosing to India, Pakistan did not loose hope and thrashed South Africa and Sri Lanka to play in the semis of this much important cricketing event.