The 7th edition of the champions trophy just concluded yesterday and as expected India won the trophy albeit in a nail biting manner beating the home team England. right from the beginning of the champions trophy, it was very evident for all to see that the Indian team was the team to watch out for and going by the wickets which assisted spin bowlers it made the job of the indian captain that much easier allowing him to bank on R Ashwin and R Jadeja who turned out to be the surprise package. The rule changes in the field restrictions meant that Dhoni had to choose 5 genuine bowlers at all time to prevent the leaking of runs by the part timers which has always proven to be the Achilles heal in the past at crucial juncture. One of the other important factors was that the Indian team played an unchanged playing 11 during the whole tournament and as the players had the complete backing of the captain the team had a settled look with each member of the side having been assigned a particular role and to the player’s credit they performed the role to a nicety.
Traditionally India has always had one of the finest batting line up which has always scored heavy runs and helped the team to win crucial matches , but in this tournament Indian fielding emerged out to be one of its strongest points . the average age of this side is 26 which helps in that all the players have age on their side and are naturally adept at the new fielding methods and some of the players like Jadeja, Raina , Kohli and Rohit Sharma are very good fielders in their own right. This is a fairly young team and the youth is fearless not carrying any unnecessary past baggage. These youngsters are not a liability on the field and barring a couple of slow movers like Ashwin and Ishant Sharma, the overall fielding standard of the present side is excellent. Along with the ground fielding what stood out was catching especially in the slip cordon with Raina and Ashwin pulling off some fine catches. The Indian team was by far the best fielding unit in the tournament even fielding better than teams like South Africa and Australia. This is a clear indication of the fact that in future a player will have to work on his fielding abilities if he has to maintain his place in this Indian team which augurs well for the future of Indian cricket.
I was also very impressed with the overall fearless and confident attitude and body language displayed by the Indian team at all junctures even during the crunch situations in the final against England where the Indian team held its nerve in a dire situation and emerged out victorious. This team surely knows how to handle the pressure situations and most importantly knows what it takes to win major tournaments. The future holds bright for this Indian team if it keeps a level head on its shoulders and maintains consistency in all the aspects of their game. The selection panel headed by Sandeep Patil also needs to be lauded for picking a young and match fit Indian team rather than picking players based on past laurels and questionable fitness. This present selection panel has indeed sent out the right signals by dropping out of form players like Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan. The only criteria for selection should be performances not only in the IPL but also in the first class circuit. Shikhar Dhawan is a classic example of a player who is hungry for international success and wants to improve all the time after having scored tons of runs on the domestic circuit . He should also be credited for having made the most of the opportunity and grabbing the chances with both hands.
With the next world cup less than 2 years away and the fact that it will be played in Australia – New Zealand, certainly fielding on those big grounds in Australia will demand an excellent fielding unit with players capable of strong and accurate arms. The future looks rosy as far as Indian cricket is concerned with more and more talented youngsters emerging and a healthy competition brewing among them.
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