India well placed to defend Champions Trophy title

Team India has got their eyes set on retaining the ICC Champions Trophy and it won’t be unreasonable to call them as one of the favourites to lift the title once again. Having won the last edition on the same English soil, the Men in Blue must be very keen on stamping their authority on world cricket once again.

Captain Kohli out to prove a point

Indian skipper Virat Kohli is the sort of player who leads the side from the front something he has proven time and again with his batting which will be the key to India’s success once again. The batting maestro’s stats in England are to an extent tame as compared to his usually high standards (he averages 38 in 14 matches on English soil) and secondly due to a woeful campaign with RCB in the IPL, you can sense that the Indian captain Kohli will be very eager to set things straight and once again prove why he is one of the best in the business.

Batting powerhouse

India has a strong batting line-up which has a blend of both young blood and experience. The team has an excellent top order which includes the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. The quality at the top is supplemented by a solid middle order which features the elegant Ajinkya Rahane, experienced Yuvraj Singh and the aggressive and impressive, but a newbie, Kedar Jadhav.

Lower down the power hitting of former captain MS Dhoni and youngster Hardik Pandya can wreak havoc in the death overs and provide the much-needed boost to successfully culminate an innings.

It won’t be unfair to say that batting comes naturally to the Indian players and their rich history of producing world class batsmen over the years is a testament to that fact. Trying to contain these Indian batsmen is usually not the correct ploy as once they are set enough and acclimatised with the conditions they will go on to hurt you and score runs at will which is why it is imperative that the opposing bowlers go for wickets with an aggressive approach rather than playing the waiting game and expecting the batsmen to make a mistake.

Although the Indian side won’t be too worried about their batting, one area which might come under the spotlight is opening with Rohit Sharma. Although Sharma has done this in the past one must not negate the fact that he is making a comeback after more than six months and did not open for his IPL side Mumbai Indians. It remains to be seen how he performs at the top of the pile with Dhawan.

Some of the performances of the Indian batsmen including Yuvraj and Rahane were below par during IPL but they have the ability along with the experience to raise their game and keep the middle order from falling apart.

Formidable bowling attack

In the pace bowling department India, perhaps for the first time in many years, have a formidable attack which cannot be taken for granted under English conditions. They have got all bases covered with bowlers who can move it both ways with the brand new ball, bring reverse swing into play and bowl well executed Yorkers towards the back end of the innings.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav, for instance, are genuine swing bowlers, who at the start of the innings provide their skipper with the ability to pick up wickets. Especially Bhuvneshwar’s confidence will be sky high after another stellar IPL season where he finished as the top wicket-taker. The Indian team had been struggling towards the back end of the innings due to lack of quality death bowlers but the arrival of Jasprit Bumrah has surely gone a long way in resolving this issue as he is far more consistent than his contemporaries at bowling the Yorker length.

Perhaps one of the weakest links of the Indian bowling attack is Mohammad Shami who managed to pick up just 5 wickets in 8 IPL appearances. He has not featured in the Indian side due to a fairly long injury layoff but he is a complete bowler who, once he gets his rhythm back, can trouble even the finest batsmen around.

It’s not just about India’s fast bowling because they also have a quality off spinner in the shape of Ravichandran Ashwin who has the ability to tighten the noose around batsmen during the middle overs. Although he missed IPL due to injury, which might be a cause of concern for the Indian team management as his fitness and form can come under scrutiny but Ashwin is capable enough to find his groove quickly as soon as he returns.

Kohli also has Ravi Jadeja at his disposal who, with his accurate line and length, is a handy bowler in the shorter formats. It is worth mentioning here that Jadeja fancies playing in England and has a fantastic track record averages 88 with the bat and has 23 wickets to his credit on English soil. He was successful with both bat and ball and was instrumental in guiding his team to victory in the last edition of ICC Champions Trophy.

Opponents

India will begin their campaign by locking horns with arch-rivals Pakistan at Birmingham before heading to London to face Sri Lanka and South Africa. Perhaps India’s toughest group stage encounter will be against world number one side South Africa which is a match with all the ingredients of a mouth watering clash with two well-balanced sides. On the other hand, India should be relatively comfortable tackling their fellow Asian sides in the shapes of Pakistan and Sri Lanka considering the way those two sides have fared over the past few months or so.

On paper, it is safe to say that the defending champions are one of the strongest sides of the ICC Champions Trophy with quality and depth in both the batting and bowling departments. But having said that, due to the nature of the event which includes the top sides of world cricket, the team cannot afford to be complacent which is why it is crucial that the side goes out there and performs to the best of their ability.

– Muneeb Farrukh