India's Champions Trophy squad and their performance in the IPL 2017

A thoroughly entertaining season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) came to an end with the Mumbai Indians finishing as the well-deserved winners. It was a last ball thriller that saw MI pip their Maharashtra neighbors Rising Pune Supergiant in the finals. Skipper Rohit Sharma was pleased to see his team register a magnificent win. The cricket action does not stop though. The players will now head England to play the ICC Champions Trophy.

Much like many other players, Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma will be heading to England with the national side for the title defense. Team India is the defending champions and they would want to replicate their heroics from the 2013 edition yet again this year. For that to happen, the team would want their big stars to perform right away since India is not having too much of one-day match practice, unlike other teams.

The players will be heading straight to England after having played in the IPL for 2 months. India will have 2 warm up matches to get their act together before going into the tournament proper. Here is a close analysis of how the Indian Champions Trophy squad fared up in the IPL 2017:

Virat Kohli (c)

Skipper Virat Kohli had a very disappointing time in the IPL this season. Compared to his heroics from the last season, Kohli could not replicate his heroics this time around. He played largely like the shadow of his usual self this season. In the 10 matches that he played, he scored 308 runs with an average close to 31.

Albeit the numbers look good for any average batsman, they are definitely under par numbers for the skipper of the team India. Kohli hit four fifties to show good form but succumbed largely on the captaincy front. His team, Royal Challengers Bangalore finished at the bottom of the points table.

Shikhar Dhawan

Coming into the 2017 edition of the IPL, all eyes were on Shikhar Dhawan. The opening batsman who had emerged as the Player of the Tournament for the previous edition of the Champions Trophy had been struggling with form in the recent times. There were dark clouds over his selection too since his recent form had not been very impressive.

However, Shikhar played exceptionally well for the Sunrisers Hyderabad this season. In the 14 matches that he played this IPL, he scored 479 runs at an average of 36.84 with 3 fifties to his credit. Also, he was a key contributor for the team in the powerplay overs and had a top score of 77 this season.

Rohit Sharma

Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma was a mighty pleased man after his team registered an emphatic win over the Rising Pune Supergiant in the IPL final. However, his tournament on the personal front was not very impressive. Rohit had a string of single digit scores this season.

Coming into the tournament, he had the eyes glued to him since he was returning from a long injury layoff. He took some time to settle in. Also, his technique against the spin bowling was largely challenged this year. Rohit showed good form in sporadic spells though. He finished with 333 runs in 17 matches at an average of 23.78 with 3 fities to his name. Two of those 3 fifties came in the losing cause.