Champions Trophy Surprise from Indian Team
One did not expect the Indian Cricket team to dominate as they did in the recent Champions trophy. They won all their matches including the warm up games and outclassed their opponents with ease to be crowned as the undisputed” One day Champions”. I did expect the team to do so well ,( taking their IPL forms in to the tournament) but did not expect this kind of a dominance. The team played with assurance in all areas of the game – fielding being outstanding and at times turning the game on its head in India ‘s favour ( Jaddu’s run out Petersen against South Africa is a good example ), batting ( the only team to score 300runs in one of the games ) and bowling departments. Ably led by the ever cool MSD
Some good reasons as to why India did well :
Major change in the composition of the team as compared to the one that won the world Cup ( No Sachin , Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvi , Zaheer , Munaf , Harbhajan and Dhoni’s lucky mascot Sreesanth
It was a young , fit Indian team – Jadeja , Rohit, Shikar Dhawan , Karthik, Raina , Bhuneswar Kumar , Kohli – all of them could dive , chase down the ball and create run out opportunities – Only exception is Ashwin who may not be in the same category as the rest.
Over the last couple of years , selectors have done a good job to slowly ease out the seniors ( or they eased out themselves ) and bring in youngsters. Not an easy task considering the impact /reputation that people like Sehwag , Gambhir , Zaheer , Yuvi carry.
Have these Youngsters grabbed the opportunity ? By all means –
Shikar Dhawan is fantastic – he could do nothing wrong at this time – the bat is like a magic wand in his hands – one hopes he just continues his run of form,
Rohit – is a youngster but a veteran – Glad that he is making the full use of the opportunity
Karthik – deserved his place for the way he played in the Ranji trophy matches and in the IPL ( still needs to watch his soft skills )
Virat , Jadeja and Dhoni ( he is the oldest at 31 in the team ! ) all chipped when it mattered. The team was a batting powerhouse.
Bowling was fantastic – They bowled the right lengths ,used the conditions very well and the spinners who are normally ineffective in English conditions were a success in not only keeping the runs scored down but kept getting wickets at the right time. It was a team effort and everyone contributed.
Fielding and catching was top notch. The players dived for the ball, reduced two’s to ones , created run out opportunities by sharp fielding. Catching was excellent .
The final itself was a tense affair not because of the cricket but whether the weather would allow the game to be played. Finally after a wait of nearly five hours the match got off being reduced to a 20 overs a side. Dhoni lost a crucial toss as bowling first would have helped exploit helpful conditions and chase down a target. As the rains interruptions kept happening frequently , India struggled to score briskly and thanks to Kohli and Jadeja’s assault , reached out to 129 – a total that did not look defendable. England got off to a poor start but Morgan and Bopara brought them right back . This changed when Dhoni called up Ishant to bowl the 18th over. The move to bowl Ishant was a surprise. Till that point of time , he was the most expensive bowler and Dhoni had other options of using Umesh Yadav and Bhuvanesh Kumar who had bowled well. But Dhoni is Dhoni and he went to Ishant. What an over it was ! The second ball went for a six . But of the third legitimate delivery , Morgan was foxed by a slower ball ( a straight one with no change in the way the ball was held by the bowler in delivering ) and spooned an easy catch. The next ball Bopara ( who had crossed over ) pulled one to the fielder at square leg. Two wickets off two balls and that changed the match. India applied pressure and got more wickets and the runs dried up. It was inspirational stuff from the Captain. After the last England wicket fell , Dhoni signaled out to Ishant as the team celebrated. Dhoni knew who had turned the match around. It was the Ishant over. So much of faith that Dhoni has on his men
So ,it was Dhoni as usual the cool man who went about the task in a unruffled manner , always quiet , knows exactly what needs to be done and executes them flawlessly. For a change , Dhoni did show samples of getting involved and excited but just …
All credit to the Selectors for getting this team together and taking some tough but right decisions. This got rid of the baggages that we have been carrying for sometime.
Future looks bright for the Indian cricket.
PS: What happened to those spot fixing concerns ? I hear someone asking “when did that happen ? -- Don’t we all move on quickly—yes , we do
Some good reasons as to why India did well :
Major change in the composition of the team as compared to the one that won the world Cup ( No Sachin , Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvi , Zaheer , Munaf , Harbhajan and Dhoni’s lucky mascot Sreesanth
It was a young , fit Indian team – Jadeja , Rohit, Shikar Dhawan , Karthik, Raina , Bhuneswar Kumar , Kohli – all of them could dive , chase down the ball and create run out opportunities – Only exception is Ashwin who may not be in the same category as the rest.
Over the last couple of years , selectors have done a good job to slowly ease out the seniors ( or they eased out themselves ) and bring in youngsters. Not an easy task considering the impact /reputation that people like Sehwag , Gambhir , Zaheer , Yuvi carry.
Have these Youngsters grabbed the opportunity ? By all means –
Shikar Dhawan is fantastic – he could do nothing wrong at this time – the bat is like a magic wand in his hands – one hopes he just continues his run of form,
Rohit – is a youngster but a veteran – Glad that he is making the full use of the opportunity
Karthik – deserved his place for the way he played in the Ranji trophy matches and in the IPL ( still needs to watch his soft skills )
Virat , Jadeja and Dhoni ( he is the oldest at 31 in the team ! ) all chipped when it mattered. The team was a batting powerhouse.
Bowling was fantastic – They bowled the right lengths ,used the conditions very well and the spinners who are normally ineffective in English conditions were a success in not only keeping the runs scored down but kept getting wickets at the right time. It was a team effort and everyone contributed.
Fielding and catching was top notch. The players dived for the ball, reduced two’s to ones , created run out opportunities by sharp fielding. Catching was excellent .
The final itself was a tense affair not because of the cricket but whether the weather would allow the game to be played. Finally after a wait of nearly five hours the match got off being reduced to a 20 overs a side. Dhoni lost a crucial toss as bowling first would have helped exploit helpful conditions and chase down a target. As the rains interruptions kept happening frequently , India struggled to score briskly and thanks to Kohli and Jadeja’s assault , reached out to 129 – a total that did not look defendable. England got off to a poor start but Morgan and Bopara brought them right back . This changed when Dhoni called up Ishant to bowl the 18th over. The move to bowl Ishant was a surprise. Till that point of time , he was the most expensive bowler and Dhoni had other options of using Umesh Yadav and Bhuvanesh Kumar who had bowled well. But Dhoni is Dhoni and he went to Ishant. What an over it was ! The second ball went for a six . But of the third legitimate delivery , Morgan was foxed by a slower ball ( a straight one with no change in the way the ball was held by the bowler in delivering ) and spooned an easy catch. The next ball Bopara ( who had crossed over ) pulled one to the fielder at square leg. Two wickets off two balls and that changed the match. India applied pressure and got more wickets and the runs dried up. It was inspirational stuff from the Captain. After the last England wicket fell , Dhoni signaled out to Ishant as the team celebrated. Dhoni knew who had turned the match around. It was the Ishant over. So much of faith that Dhoni has on his men
So ,it was Dhoni as usual the cool man who went about the task in a unruffled manner , always quiet , knows exactly what needs to be done and executes them flawlessly. For a change , Dhoni did show samples of getting involved and excited but just …
All credit to the Selectors for getting this team together and taking some tough but right decisions. This got rid of the baggages that we have been carrying for sometime.
Future looks bright for the Indian cricket.
PS: What happened to those spot fixing concerns ? I hear someone asking “when did that happen ? -- Don’t we all move on quickly—yes , we do
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