Fakhar Zaman wrote himself into Pakistan folklore with a century in the Champions Trophy final but afterwards revealed he thought he would be unavailable to play the day before due to illness.

The opening batsman has been at the forefront of Pakistan's revival over the past couple of weeks and saved his best for last with a daring innings of 114 from 106 balls that inspired a crushing 180-run defeat of fierce rivals India at The Oval.

That Fakhar was even able to take to the field seemed an unlikely scenario the previous evening, having withdrawn from training after feeling unwell before vomiting several times.

He told Pakistan's medical staff he would have to pull out of the competition finale, but was given medication to settle his stomach and, following a night of rest, decided he could play only a few hours before walking out to bat.

Following his man-of-the-match heroics on Sunday, Fakhar told ESPNcricinfo: "When we came for practise I wasn't feeling good. I hit five or 10 balls and said to the coach 'I don't want to practise today as I'm not feeling well'.

"I went back to the dressing room and told the masseur and physio that I didn't feel good and couldn't work.

"We went back to the hotel and they treated me very well. Our physio, Shane Hayes, was with me the whole night. I said to him 'I can't play tomorrow', but he gave me protein and glucose tablets and said 'You will play tomorrow'.

"I woke in the morning feeling good. I sent him a message at 7am saying 'Thanks, Shane. I'm feeling good'."

Fakhar was brought into Pakistan's line-up in the wake of the heavy defeat to the same opposition two weeks ago and established his position at the top of the order with half-centuries against Sri Lanka and England.

He rode his luck at the beginning of his knock on Sunday, first escaping a narrow run-out chance on one before being caught behind off a no-ball on three, but he grew ever more assured.

The 27-year-old rookie brought up a maiden international ton off only 92 balls and by the time he departed the crease, Pakistan were primed for a target well in excess of 300 - eventually posting 338 for four before favourites India were skittled for 158.

Fakhar added: "I'm feeling very lucky. It worked really well for me. Sometimes you get dropped or survive because of a no-ball but you don't go on and score too many runs.

"At the start they were bowling very well. So I tried to play ball-to-ball. But when I saw there was no swing or movement off the wicket, I started to play my shots."