ICC Champions Trophy 2013: Is this India's year?

With the round robin matches almost done and dealt with, we take a look at why India has suddenly emerged as the strongest contender for this year’s ICC Champions Trophy.

The ongoing edition of the Champions Trophy has thrown up quite a lot of surprises. For one, no one would have imagined Australia would perform so poorly with both bat and ball. Even though it had lost quite a lot of senior players in the past few seasons, Australia was still considered one of the main challengers for the trophy. Their performance in the first two matches in the tournament has shown its blatant lack of depth in the batting order in spite of putting up decent totals, and the bowling has not lived up to the reputation that we usually associate with Australia. This is Australia’s weakest line up in the past three decades, and the inconsistency of Watson and Clarke’s injury hasn’t helped their cause. Champions in the last two editions, one hardly expects them to defend the title successfully this year.

The biggest surprise of the tournament so far has been India’s excellent showing in all three departments of the game. India has always been a batting heavy side, mostly relying on their batsmen to set up huge totals for the weak bowling attack to defend or chase down big totals with ease. However, the fielding and bowling have been exceptionally good, the fielding more so. With the injection of new legs in the side, the fielders in the circle have been electrifying, diving and rolling around to stop the ball and hitting the target with their throws more often than not. The standard of fielding that the team has shown has surprised even the skipper, who had very openly said that his team not being a good fielding side a few years back. The Indian team has had a rollercoaster ride in the past few months, with the IPL spot fixing scandal back home and the retirement of their biggest talisman – Sachin Tendulkar. Add to that the dropping of Sehwag, Gambhir and Harbhajan and the series defeats at the hands of England and Pakistan, and we can see why India was expected to struggle this year. But instead, spurred on by the controversies back home perhaps, Dhoni’s blue brigade has been the best team so far in the tournament.

However, before we start fantasizing about the return of India’s golden days, we must remember that India have had an on-off home season that just ended before the IPL. The 4-0 drubbing of the weakest Australian side to visit these shores apart, India has had precious little success in the season. The impregnable bastions of Mumbai and Kolkata were conceded to a visiting team for the first time since 2004, and a ODI series loss to Pakistan almost cost Dhoni his captaincy.

India has looked so good in this ongoing tournament primarily because the traditionally strong sides have performed pathetically so far. Australia and Pakistan have been nothing short of horrendous, and the form of some other teams has been wildly inconsistent. Sri Lanka was bowled out for a meagre 138 in their first match on a belter of a wicket. and the same line up chased 290-odd runs against England in their next match. New Zealand has managed to consistently punch above its weight in ICC tournaments, and it remains to be seen if they can do so again this year. South Africa remain the closest contender for the title apart from India now, but the ‘chokers’ tag will be weighing heavily in their minds now, and it will be interesting to see if they manage to shed it and bring a long-deserved victory for a nation that has produced some of the all-time greats in the game. Their’s is by far the best bowling attack in the world today, and the deadly Dale Steyn is capable of winning matches single-handedly.

England are considered a strong side purely because of their home advantage, because their enormous talent fails to deliver in crunch situations. The absence of their best batsman has made their middle order relatively inexperienced, and it is capable of capitulating in pressure situations. Morgan remains their X-factor in this tournament for now, and it will be heartening to see him do justice to his amazing talent. Having said that, it can be anyone’s day at a knockout game, and England would do well to believe in itself to win, something that it has consistently lacked in ICC events.

For India, Shikhar Dhawan is in red hot form, producing centuries at will, and his partnership with Rohit Sharma at the top has given good starts for the team in all its matches so far. Jadeja is finally managing to turn heads for the right reasons; the new ball bowlers, led by the searing pace of Yadav, are managing early breakthroughs and Dhoni’s shrewd mind has been the focal point of the team’s successful strategies. The new entrants in the team have so far not made us miss the legends that are no more in the team, and we sincerely hope they continue to not make us miss them. India remain the firm favourites at this point in the tournament and the fans will be hoping for a victory as a compensation for the embarrassment that was India’s last visit to these shores.