Champions Trophy goes the Indian way in its final edition
The Champions Trophy came to an end on Sunday with India beating England and clinching the Champions Trophy. The victory was a well deserved one, bossing the whole tourney and in the final having that winning instinct to clinch the big one. To be frank never did anyone think that India would come victors. We have witnessed in the past how meekly the Indians have surrendered abroad. This time around Dhoni & co proved it wrong. He has got a history of people wrong even in the past. Then people said it’s his luck that made us win,but this time around it was not luck. India played like a Champion side all the tournament and when it mattered the most we stayed calm and beat the hosts even though the match was rain – marred. India showed once again that they are world cup champs for a reason and that their world cup win is no fluke.
The final was nothing short than a thriller with rain affecting the match at regular intervals and in the end match being reduced to 20 overs a side. England failed to chase down a meager 130 and pushed the self-destruct button to make India the winners by just 5 runs. India took the match away from England after just managing 129 thanks to the heroics of Ravindra Jadeja and Virat Kohli. And even when it came to bowling Jadeja and Ashwin again rose up to the occasion.
This Champions Trophy was a tale of many questions and answers. Undoubtedly, India and England found the answers to the questions they had to encounter and came in the final. The other teams, were very confused with the questions they were asked. Why did Sri Lanka and South Africa choke yet again?? Was this the Australian team that we know off??
South Africa and Sri Lanka were playing well in the tournament and they were comprehensively beaten by England and India in the semis. They seem to miss the killer instinct that teams like India and England have. South Africa and Sri Lanka are like students who do well in the class but they fail in the final exams. Teams like these need to know and understand if they want to stand a chance in the next world cup they have to make sure they don’t panic. For India, however panicking is out of context having a captain like Dhoni. As Sunil Gavaskar said the other day “Dhoni has a great gut instinct and most often it works wonders for him and team India”
Australia’s exit from the tournament is actually shocking. One must have at least wanted to see them make the semi-finals. Accept the fact that they are not the same with new players, but then India is also not the same having left out players like Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag.
Getting back to the terrible days Team India had, there was one man who took all the ambush was Dhoni. When voices for his axe turned venomous, the captain turned things round with some guts and calmness. When the senior players retired there was a vaccum in the Indian team, there required a tried and tested captain to build a team. BCCI kept faith in him and gave him another go.
Dhoni has given rich returns for keeping the faith in him. He fought the tough situations with composure . Made a gutsy move to open with Rohit Sharma instead of Murali Vijay or Dinesh Karthik. Dhoni has been victorious. He has delivered a moment that all Indians will relish and by doing that, he has silenced his critics.
There was another man too, against whom the voices for axe were heard. It was the coach Duncan Fletcher. He worked along with Captain Dhoni and groomed the players well to play under the tough English conditions. People were against Fletcher in the bad times, and when the good times come people seem to forget his contribution to the team. And that is something totally unfair. If we have won this tournament, a slice of credit also goes to Fletcher.
