Team India - Champion of the Champions 2013

Champion of the Champions Team India
 

ICC Champions Trophy is such type of tournament where one mistake can take the team out of the tournament. India not only became the champions by winning the final match but they also did not lose any single match from the start till the end of the tournament. They defeated 6 different world class teams if we count the warm up matches also. They bowled, batted and fielded brilliantly.
Most players who were part of the 2011 World Cup winning team were not there. The team was full of youngsters & they didnot have any experience of playing in any major ICC tournament but they showed what it means to play for India where expectations of millions are attached. More often than not these youngsters were able to absorb the pressure and come out victorious. The way they celebrated after the victory showed that how much this victory meant to them.

Shikhar and Rohit were for the first time opening the batting together and they didn't dissapoint us. They complimented each other really well. They took the responsibility on their own shoulders and they made sure that our middle order batsmen don't have to do that much work. Virat Kohli also showed his class batting when it came to the most important matches that is the semi finals and the finals. Ravindra Jadeja not only bowled well but he showed that he is a batting all rounder. Whenever he got the opportunity with the bat he did well. He also executed the big strokes when it mattered the most which was not seen when Ravindra Jadeja played the 2009 t20 world cup in England.

Our fielding was absolutely magnificent this time. There are exceptions such as Ishant Sharma and R. Ashwin who run a bit slow on the field but their catching is good. Our fast bowlers Bhuvaneshwar & Umesh always got us the intial breakthroughs which is very important to apply pressure on the opposition. Ishant also bowled well in the middle overs but he was expensive sometimes but no one can forget the two back to back wickets he took in the finals. In the spinning department, Jadeja always bowled really well. His accuracy was immaculate.

India won the Champions Trophy convincingly. This victory became more sweeter because India won in foreign conditions. This team looks great for the 2015 World Cup in Australia which is two years away. All the players currently in the side may not play the 2015 World Cup but I think most of them will definitely play. It has to be said that these youngsters have showed tremendous passion and they did great hardwork which turned this inexperienced team into a champion team.