PREVIEW: Defending champion India rides high on confidence
With the Indian Premier League getting over on May 21, India was the last team to land in England for the Champions Trophy. The defending champion has only played 16 One-Day Internationals since January 2016 because of a long home Test season consisting of 13 games. The format might be different, but the manner in which India won successive series against New Zealand, England, Bangladesh and Australia between September 2016 and March 2017 must have boosted its confidence. It will try to carry that momentum into the Champions Trophy.
India’s last ODI assignment was against England at home in January this year, when it won series 2-1. India has always been competitive in multi-nation events, and six weeks of IPL has prepared most players for white-ball cricket. The key would be how early the players get acquainted with the conditions. The warm-up games against New Zealand and Bangladesh at the Oval on May 28 and 30 will be crucial for the team to get into the groove quickly and they started in strong fashion, dispatching the Kiwis with ease.
HistorySachin Tendulkar’s 128-ball 141 and 4 for 38 gave India a 44-run win over Australia in its first-ever Champions Trophy match in Dhaka in 1998. India lost to West Indies in the semifinal, but made a strong impression in the next edition in Nairobi in 2000. Led by Sourav Ganguly, India put up powerful performances against Australia and South Africa before losing the final to New Zealand. The emergence of Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan gave India a glimpse into the future. Two rain-affected games meant India had to share the title with host Sri Lanka in 2002. Even though India did not live up to expectations in 2004 in England and Wales, at home in 2006 and in 2009 in South Africa, it bounced back strongly in 2013. Shikhar Dhawan and Ravindra Jadeja put up spectacular shows with the bat and ball respectively, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar was impressive with the ball as Mahendra Singh Dhoni became the first international captain to win all ICC tournaments, apart from leading his side to the No.1 Test ranking. Dhawan, Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar, Dhoni and Virat Kohli were named in ICC’s team of the tournament.
Recent formThe 2013 Champions Trophy success heralded a new beginning in Indian cricket as more and more youngsters came to the fore. Since then, Rohit Sharma has gone on to become the only batsman with two double-centuries against his name in ODIs, including the highest individual score of 264 against Sri Lanka in November 2014. Kohli has upped his game by a few notches, and is now fourth on the list of centurions in ODIs. He is four short of surpassing Ricky Ponting’s tally of 30 and moving to second on the list, behind only Sachin Tendulkar (49). The bowling department has been strengthened by the emergence of Jasprit Bumrah, whose ability to bowl perfect yorkers in the end overs has been sensational.
From a team perspective, India has not played many ODIs since the 2015 World Cup in Australia where it lost the semifinal to the host. It lost a series in Bangladesh almost immediately before getting back on track in Zimbabwe. India lost to South Africa at home in November 2015, and then went down to Australia in an away series. Even if the scoreline read 4-1 in favour of Australia, India had significant individual contributors. Manish Pandey, who was replaced by Dinesh Karthik in the Champions Trophy squad after suffering a side strain during the IPL, made a mark there with a match-winning century.
After the World T20 2016, Dhoni led a second-string unit to Zimbabwe and achieved success, but gave up captaincy after leading the team to a series win over New Zealand late last year. Kohli’s first stint as India’s captain across formats started with the 2-1 scorelines against England at home in the ODI and the subsequent T20I series.
Watch out forBhuvneshwar Kumar’s ability to swing the ball established his credentials as an international bowler. It was, however, not enough for him to be a regular in the playing XI. Even as he travelled with the team as a reserve, he worked on adding extra yards of pace. It has resulted in him being not only an efficient new-ball bowler, but his smartness in executing fast yorkers and slower deliveries in the death overs has made him a complete package. IPL 2017’s highest wicket-taker, Bhuvneshwar’s variation complements Bumrah’s accuracy, Mohammed Shami’s street-smartness and Umesh Yadav’s pace.
Squad: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Ajinkya Rahane.
**Fixtures:**June 4: v Pakistan at Edgbaston, Birmingham
June 8: v Sri Lanka at The Oval, London
June 11: v South Africa at The Oval, London
