Fakhar Zaman's knock of 31 runs against South Africa in the group stage of the 2017 Champions Trophy was the turning point for Pakistan in the tournament, said former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq. Pakistan came into the match in the back of a crushing defeat in their opening fixture against arch-rivals India and Fakhar was brought in to open the batting in place of Ahmed Shehzad. The match had multiple interruptions due to rain and Pakistan ultimately won the match by 19 runs as they were 119/3 at the start of the 27th over of their chase when rain brought an end to the proceedings.

"Sometimes one innings can take you down or bring you up. In the Champions Trophy Fakhar Zaman played an innings of just 37 (31) runs against South Africa, but the aggression with which he batted in that match completely changed the morale of the team," said Inzamam on his YouTube channel. "It just made everyone realise that they too can attack the opposition. The team never looked back from there as they went on to defeat Sri Lanka and then everyone came back to form and we went all the way." Pakistan went on to beat a strong England side in the semi-final and faced India again in the final. This time they were well on top of their rivals throughout the match and beat them by 180 runs to lift the trophy.