“Still can’t believe how he predicted that” - R Ashwin’s stunning revelation of MS Dhoni from 2013 Champions Trophy

Ex-India player Ravichandran Ashwin recently recalled former skipper MS Dhoni's brilliance in predicting England batter Jonathan Trott's dismissal during the 2013 Champions Trophy final at Edgbaston. Having scored only 129 in their 20 overs in a rain-reduced contest, Team India needed an inspired effort with the ball to pull off victory.

With England comfortably placed at 27/1 in five overs, Dhoni brought Ashwin to bowl the final over of the powerplay. The champion off-spinner bowled a wide down the leg-side off his second delivery to have Trott stumped, thanks to sharp work from Dhoni behind the wicket.

Talking about the dismissal 12 years later on JioHotstar’s Unbeaten: Dhoni’s Dynamites show, Ashwin said [as quoted by News18]:

"I still remember Mahi bhai came up to me and said, ‘Don’t bowl over the stumps to Trott; bowl from around the wicket. He’ll try to play on the leg side, and if the ball spins, he’ll get stumped.’ I still can’t believe how he predicted that."

The dismissal proved crucial to India's sensational bowling performance, where they restricted England to 124/8 in 20 overs to win by five runs. It was India's second Champions Trophy title after being joint-winners with Sri Lanka in 2002.

"Dhoni made some brilliant tactical moves" - Dinesh Karthik on India's 2013 Champions Trophy triumph

Karthik played a key role in Dhoni and India's 2013 Champions Trophy title run [Credit: Getty]

On the same show, former India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik hailed MS Dhoni for making several brilliant moves to help the side clinch the 2013 Champions Trophy in England.

Karthik played as a specialist batter at No. 4 throughout the tournament, making timely contributions in several of India's wins. He scored 82 runs at an average of 41 and a strike rate of 86.31 in five outings.

"This was our chance to show what cricket meant to Team India. We were resilient, we fought back, and we had the mindset to never give up. England were cruising; they were almost there and could have easily crossed the line. But Dhoni made some brilliant tactical moves, and the bowlers backed him up," Karthik said.

Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra also praised Dhoni for his incredible captaincy in the 2013 Champions Trophy.

"This was his tournament through and through. It had Dhoni written all over it. He had almost crafted this team in his own image and engineered victory after victory… That was a story written by the heavens. Throwing the ball to a spinner in the 20th over is a huge gamble. But Dhoni had complete confidence in Ashwin – not just in his skills, but in his mindset and ability to handle pressure," he said.

India followed up on their title run in the 2013 Champions Trophy with another impressive campaign in 2017. However, they suffered a 180-run defeat in the final to arch-rivals Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the 2025 edition of the Champions Trophy will get underway, with Pakistan taking on New Zealand, on February 19.