Whatever their limitations in Test cricket, when it comes to the limited overs format there can be little doubt that the Indian team is No. 1, says Partab Ramchand, adding that this has been underlined for some time according to the ICC rankings but further confirmation has come by way of their triumph in the Champions Trophy in Dubai. One cannot sit on one’s laurels for too long and once the celebrations are over it is time for the selectors to look ahead and build a winning team for the 2027 World Cup, he points out
Rohit Sharma and his men brooked no opposition in regaining the Champions Trophy cup they last won in England in 2013. It was their third victory overall, having been joint champions with Sri Lanka in 2002. While the victory was sweet, the manner in which they brought home the trophy was significant for they won all their five matches with a degree of comfort. It was a triumph of teamwork and tactics, technique and temperament. Plainly put, they were vastly superior to the opponents and the squealers who tried to make much of the fact that India were playing all their games at one venue and so had an unfair advantage as the other teams had to travel a lot and play in different conditions can be dismissed as sore losers. In the first place, it was known beforehand that this would be the arrangement with the Indian team not willing to travel to Pakistan citing security concerns. More important, India were so dominant in all their games, it was clear that there would have been no difference in their overwhelming superiority even had the team, for the sake of argument, played anywhere else.
To defeat Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australia and New Zealand (twice) by convincing margins is no mean feat especially after Rohit Sharma lost the toss in all the games. There were times when batting first was a distinct advantage but India never experienced that feeling. Well known for chasing down even tough targets, the team just breezed through time and again to set the seal on their overwhelming superiority. Indeed, there was an air of inevitability about their triumph that followed their victory in the T-20 World Cup last year. The dominance in white ball cricket is best emphasised by one single fact – across 24 ICC tournament matches – the 2023 ODI World Cup, the T-20 World Cup and the just concluded Champions Trophy – India have won 23, an astounding 95.83 success rate. Surely no other team in the two limited overs format has achieved this and one can only agree with the assessment by former Indian stumper Dinesh Karthik that “the sky is the limit for this team”.
Indeed, the Indians executed their plans with precision and handled each challenge adeptly. Particularly encouraging was the fact that the attack was based so strongly on spin. Yes, the conditions in Dubai favoured this mode of bowling, but to pack the side with four spinners was almost a revolutionary tactic. The quartet spun webs around the hapless batsmen and it must be said that Rohit handled the embarrassment of riches adroitly. Each was given a short spell, so much so that the batsmen never really got the opportunity to settle down. Orthodox left-arm spinners Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja performed admirably as did chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav.
However, the ace in the pack turned out to be Varun Chakravarthy. The leg spinner touted about as “a mystery bowler”’ turned out to be just that. His perplexing mix of leg spinners, googlies, carrom balls et al had the batsmen clueless. In his 34th year, the Tamil Nadu bowler who has a varied career before becoming a cricketer – his background would make for an ideal filmy tale – had played just one ODI before he took the field against New Zealand in the group tie in Dubai. He shone straightaway taking five for 42. Two more wickets each followed in the semifinal and final, to drive home the point that India have unearthed a gem of rare quality.
There was much speculation on the eve of the competition as to the future of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. But the two stars quashed all talk of imminent retirement by their sterling performances one with the bat and the other with his leadership qualities. Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya and K.L. Rahul all made valuable contributions while the return of Mohammed Shami made up for the absence of Jasprit Bumrah. The depth in the squad is evident by the single fact that there was no place in the playing eleven for an exceptional talent like Rishabh Pant.
Yes, the feel good factor is all prevalent right now and why not? But one cannot sit on one’s laurels for too long and once the celebrations are over it is time for the selectors to look ahead and build a winning team for the 2027 World Cup. Strategic planning and honest assessments will be required for the momentum to be maintained and for India’s sustained dominance to continue in the years to come.
(The writer is a veteran sports writer who spent his career working for The Indian Express and The Telegraph and Sportsworld. He lives in Chennai.)
from Webdoux