daniel chigunweThis is the same team, more or less, that looked like one of the all-time great One Day International sides while all but winning the 2023 World Cup.
The more-or-less clause, however, could be significant to their push to make up for losing that fateful final by winning this Champions Trophy.
First up, Jasprit Bumrah will not be there.
As good as the rest of this team is, it’s almost like Argentina without Diego Maradona in 1986 or Lionel Messi in 2022.
Mohammed Shami will be there but he is yet to show up in the handful of international games he’s played since his return from injury, the pace and incisiveness that made him near-unplayable in that World Cup. This means India may have to try and win games with their spinners, which, fortunately for them, is likelier to work as a strategy in Dubai, the venue for all their matches, than at any ground in Pakistan.
They may look to play three spinners whenever possible, which will come with the added benefit of greater batting depth.
The batting, too, carries the more-or-less clause.
India have a line-up full of frighteningly good players, but there is a little more uncertainty around some of them than there was a year-and-a-half ago – quite likely because there have been so few ODIs in the lead-up to this tournament.
The two biggest names have both endured a difficult time of late, but India will be relieved that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have both shown, over the course of the recently concluded three-match series against England, that they might still be at a similar level to their ODI selves of 2023.
India have been drawn in Group A of the Champions Trophy.
Either side of the obligatory ICC-tournament-group-stage meeting with Pakistan on February 23, they will face Bangladesh on February 20 and New Zealand on March 2.
Dubai will host all their group matches — and their semi-final and the final, should they get that far.
The man who makes India’s combination work, and for that reason one of the most important players in the entire tournament, is Hardik Pandya.
He bats at number six and when fully fit is a good enough bowler to be a proper third seamer.
He has endured a difficult history with injuries, however, and his early exit from the 2023 World Cup cost India a lot of flexibility.
If Hardik is fit, India can play either three front-line quicks or — as seems likely in this tournament — three spinners.
Of their spin options, Axar Patel is turning into a key player.
The pitches in Dubai, which tend to be of the skiddy and low-bounce variety, could be conducive to his left-arm spin.
Perhaps even more crucial is his skill with the bat, particularly against spin, which has turned him into a reliable left-hand floater whom India often promote to break up their predominantly right-handed top order.
Since the start of 2023, India have a win/loss ratio of 3.333 in ODIs.
All the other seven Champions Trophy teams have managed ratios below 2.
In this period, five India batters — Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer — have scored over 1000 ODI runs, with all four managing either 50-plus averages, 100-plus strike rates, or both. Since losing the World Cup final to Australia, India have only played nine ODIs across three series. — Cricinfo.
Online Reporter