Drought to end in desert?
new delhi: When the ICC announced during the ODI World Cup in October 2023 that the top eight teams would qualify for the Champions Trophy, it signalled chaos, desperation, and a race against time.
The months leading up to the tournament were no different. A cocktail of scepticism, backlash and intrigue took over. Nevertheless, all the feelings have coalesced into excitement and here we are.
In Pakistan’s first major ICC event in over a decade, storylines have curdled into subplots of personal battles—from cricketing boards’ bickering to certain individuals’ last dance to the format’s relevance in burgeoning T20 times.
Clubbed in Group A alongside India, Bangladesh, and New Zealand, defending champions Pakistan will kick off the tournament in Karachi against the Kiwis on Wednesday. Group B consists of Australia, Afghanistan, England and South Africa.
Most of the teams will ply their trade in Pakistan, except India, who has had bitter standoffs with their neighbours and will be based in Dubai for their entire Group A matches.
That does take some sheen off the tournament, as the India-Pakistan showdown on February 23 and the final will also be played in the UAE. An India-Pakistan clash in Pakistan would have been truly enthralling. However, the upcoming weeks look poised to dish out exhilarating cricket, emotion-packed performances and new stars.
Can India bring it home?
For India, who is eyeing their first CT in 12 years, there’s a lot at stake. The Men in Blue have played only nine ODIs since the last World Cup, winning five of them. Since the start of 2023, India have a win/loss ratio of 3.333 in ODIs. All the other seven Champions Trophy teams have managed ratios below 2.
They come into the tournament with a confidence-boosting ODI series sweep against England. But that doesn’t tell the whole picture, as they suffered a lot before that soothing string of wins, with New Zealand and Australia condemning India to new lows in Tests.
The squad is much the same which took the 2023 ODI World Cup by storm before running into an Australian wall. They will look to make up for that heartbreak by winning this event.
The batting line-up seems all set, barring Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s wobbly form. The tournament could well be their swansong and they would love to ride into the sunset with another milestone. They have to click, along with vice-captain Shubman Gill, as it would ease a lot of pressure on the likes of KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Hardik Pandya to free their hand in the middle.
Gill, in particular, needs to play match-winning knocks. That no batter has scored more runs than him after 50 ODI innings augurs well for India.
However, missing Jasprit Bumrah’s services and a rusty Mohammed Shami only widens the creases on coach Gautam Gambhir’s forehead. The one man who could have easily swung the matches in their favour is out with a back injury. This means India will have to rely heavily on their spin-bowling options to take wickets. Here, the pitches come into play. If on the slower side, it could well tilt the scales in their favour. Of the five spinners, three are finger-spinning choices—Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar—who also provide batting depth. The other two are Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy. Gambhir could also look to Harshit Rana or Arshdeep Singh to up India’s pace game, as and when the conditions desire.
