Prove people wrong: Theme of Champions Trophy 2013

As every mega sporting event unfolds, it acquires a distinct character of its own. The way each team plays, some individual superstars who dominate the tournament, the crowd and even other elements like weather can play its part in varying degree to give a particular sporting event an unique identity.

‘Prove people wrong’ might well be the apt theme for the just concluded ICC Champions Trophy 2013. Yes, India’s resurgence in this Championship played the most vital part in setting the theme, but it was not all about the Men in Blue.

To start off, the groundsmen at the Championship venues did a spectacular job of getting the arena cricket ready as soon as possible after every burst of shower threatened to disrupt a particular match, and from time to time proved people wrong when they felt a particular match would be abandoned. The pitches caught many people off-guard by aiding spin more than lateral seam movement, and even the cricket God chose this tournament to let all followers of the game know that he has no particular ire against the cricketers from the Rainbow nation. And, of course, there were individual cricketers like Jonathan Trott who proved his detractors wrong by being the most reliable English batsmen even in limited overs cricket.

Even after all that, this was India’s tournament in every sense of the word, and how the team as a unit; quite a few individuals themselves proved people wrong en route winning this coveted trophy. First up as a team, not many people backed India to go the distance in this tournament. India’s nightmarish tour in England two years back, the team’s limited arsenal of fast bowlers, inexperience of batsmen in these conditions had all played its part in limiting the expectations on this team. Add to it the, off-field controversies that plagued the team just prior to this tournament, and most cricket aficionados were concerned about India’s mental state leading into such high profile tournament.

But the beauty of cricket, or for that matter, any sport is that is not played in the strategy rooms. Therefore, what looks improbable on paper may turn possible on the field. Like the Italian soccer team of 2006, the Indian cricket team in 2013 paid a fitting tribute to its ardent supporters who had been by its side in the tumultuous times. In the process, they played some fearless, attractive cricket that made for a great spectacle.

One of the things that stood out for the Men in Blue in this edition of the Champions Trophy was its fielding. While in the past, we have had a few glimpses of good Indian fielders like Eknath Solekar, Md. Azharuddin or Yuvraj, but they shone despite the system and not because of it. But the same cannot be said of the current crop.

After the final, Dhoni stressed how the youngsters coming through the ranks these days have had the privilege of benefiting from excellent cricket infrastructure right from their junior days, something that players from his time or before did not have access to. And that explains how we have a whole bunch of good fielders coming together now, and we witnessed the importance that fielding can have in deciding the fate of a cricket match.

Whenever we think of BCCI, a picture of a powerful influential body comes to our mind whose sole intention is to milk money from the game we love and not develop it. While some of it is certainly true but the emergence of players from all across the country and their sense of athleticism certainly provide testimony to the argument that perhaps some of the allegations labelled against BCCI is not true.

When it comes to individuals, the openers kept the critics at bay by forming a wonderful partnership at the start throughout the tournament that gave the Indian innings the required stability and necessary momentum. They found a way to counter the swing (although it wasn’t much of a threat in most of the matches) and dealt with short pitch bowling quite effectively.

Ravindra Jadeja, who used to be the butt of most cricketing jokes till not so long ago is having a rather surreal turnaround in his cricketing fortunes. While he did have a good series against Australia back home, critics were not sure how useful he would be in England. But he answered them in some style by becoming the highest wicket taker of the tournament. Yes, he did find an unexpected ally in the pitch, but that should not take away any credit from the way he delivered throughout the tournament. Add to it, his two crucial cameos and his livewire fielding, and one can easily understand as to why he has become a crucial cog in the wheel.

And finally comes MS Dhoni. Despite all his laurels so fa,r he has seen many Indian fan labelling him as ‘The captain of the best Indian team’ while the title of ‘Best Indian captain’ has been reserved for Sourav Ganguly. This despite winning the ODI World Cup after 28 years, winning the first T20 World Cup and taking India to the zenith of ICC test rankings. Also, his leadership in foreign soil was not above scrutiny. This triumph should effectively take care of all the naysayers, and hopefully they will understand that Dhoni has built wonderfully on the base that was laid by Ganguly and his men. Both came at different time of Indian cricket and they have both played a wonderful role in taking Indian cricket ahead. But this debate of who is better is surely getting redundant. While captain cool still maintains that he does not play cricket to prove anything to anybody, but just in case, if anybody had any iota of doubt, it has been effectively answered in June 2013.

As I write this, there are reports that owing to the wonderful response from the crowd worldwide, the ICC will deliberate on whether to keep this tournament alive in the coming years. If it turns out that way, it would prove wrong all those people who felt 50 overs cricket has lost all its relevance.