India were the 2011 World Cup Champions. Now, they are 2013 Champions Trophy Champs as well. They did well to emulate the Australian team to do a repeat of the World Cup-Champions Trophy. MS Dhoni became the first captain to lead teams to victories at all the ICC championships - T20 World Cup included.
The Indians won and celebrated hard on the field. The off-field celebrations must have been even wilder. But, this team deserves it. They did all the right things on the field after coming off an IPL that had controversies galore.
The match was reduced to a twenty-over bash - one might gasp at the audacity of such a possibility but this is much better than the SuperOver that was suggested if a match was tied (during the knockout stage). Yes, there was no reserved day but surely the twenty over version was good. Only one complaint though (nothing is perfect for us supporters, right?) The Indian innings was continuously interrupted by rain breaks which meant that the batsmen's concentration was disturbed. Nothing of this sort happened during the second innings. Though the number of overs were not reduced, the interruptions had a say with the score that the batting team put up - will the D/L method work here? Will there be an adjustment to the total just because the batsman had to do a stop-start procedure to their innings many a time.
The Indians continued to do all the right things on the field though. In a repeat of the match against South Africa, Ravindra Jadeja hit a cameo at the end to spur the total to an eventual match-winning score after Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli had given impetus early on. When it was the turn of the bowlers, Ashwin and Jadeja were all over the English batsmen. It was expected that the spinners will rule the roost especially looking at the cracks on the pitch. But, Ishant repaid his captain's faith in him by picking up two in two to restrain the English team.
All in all, an effort that had all the players contributing their 110% to the team's cause. The result was that the Indians were victors in a championship that was supposedly the brain-child of another Indian.
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The Indians won and celebrated hard on the field. The off-field celebrations must have been even wilder. But, this team deserves it. They did all the right things on the field after coming off an IPL that had controversies galore.
The match was reduced to a twenty-over bash - one might gasp at the audacity of such a possibility but this is much better than the SuperOver that was suggested if a match was tied (during the knockout stage). Yes, there was no reserved day but surely the twenty over version was good. Only one complaint though (nothing is perfect for us supporters, right?) The Indian innings was continuously interrupted by rain breaks which meant that the batsmen's concentration was disturbed. Nothing of this sort happened during the second innings. Though the number of overs were not reduced, the interruptions had a say with the score that the batting team put up - will the D/L method work here? Will there be an adjustment to the total just because the batsman had to do a stop-start procedure to their innings many a time.
The Indians continued to do all the right things on the field though. In a repeat of the match against South Africa, Ravindra Jadeja hit a cameo at the end to spur the total to an eventual match-winning score after Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli had given impetus early on. When it was the turn of the bowlers, Ashwin and Jadeja were all over the English batsmen. It was expected that the spinners will rule the roost especially looking at the cracks on the pitch. But, Ishant repaid his captain's faith in him by picking up two in two to restrain the English team.
All in all, an effort that had all the players contributing their 110% to the team's cause. The result was that the Indians were victors in a championship that was supposedly the brain-child of another Indian.
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