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Mon, Dec 23, 2024 | Jumada al-Aakhirah 22, 1446 | DXB
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T20 World Cup: What India can learn from 2013 Champions Trophy-winning team
Did you know? Rohit, Kohli and Jadeja are the only three surviving members of India's last ICC trophy-winning team
Virat Kohli dances as India celebrate with the Champions Trophy after winning the tournament in 2013. — AFP file
Hoping to end an 11-year wait for an ICC trophy, India will look for the perfect start when they take on Ireland in their opening match of the 2024 T20 World Cup in New York on Wednesday.
India's last triumph at an ICC event came in 2013 when they won the Champions Trophy. The final of that 50 overs tournament was reduced to a 20-over-a-side game due to the fickle English weather as India held aloft the trophy after holding their nerve to overcome hosts England in a low-scoring affair.
MS Dhoni's India were outplayed by England for large periods in that final, but they staged a stirring fightback before breaking into an incredible victory dance — just two years after their famous win in the 2011 ODI World Cup on home soil.
Chasing 130, England were cruising at 110 for four in 17.2 overs, and yet India found a way to win that game by five runs in an unforgettable finish.
Unfortunately for Indian fans, their teams since that 2013 triumph have lost that ability to win the decisive moments in crunch knockout games.
They have entered every big tournament as one of the top favourites only to suffer one painful blow after another.
Whether losing the semifinals or the big finals, India’s multimillionaire cricketers have continued to choke under pressure.
Ravindra Jadeja (centre), Virat Kohli (right) and Rohit Sharma, India's three most experienced campaigners. — AFP
The veteran trio
It’s against this backdrop that Rohit Sharma’s men will begin their campaign in this edition of the T20 World Cup in New York on Wednesday.
Remarkably, Rohit is among the three surviving members of the 2013 Champions Trophy team alongside Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja, the left-arm spinner whose all-round skills could be decisive on slow wickets in the West Indies, the co-hosts of this 2024 tournament.
The conditions were far from ideal for the spinners in Birmingham when Jadeja claimed two wickets (4-0-24-2) in the 2013 final against England after producing a superb cameo with the bat (33 not out off 25 balls).
Jadeja was smiling from ear to ear with his man-of-the-match trophy that day — the last time the cricket world saw a smiling Indian team at the end of a global final.
Now for this current team to have a chance to put smiles on a billion faces, Rohit, Kohli and Jadeja, the only three players in the team who know what it takes to win a big tournament, must produce their absolute top form.
All three of them are on the wrong side of the 30s and this is perhaps their last chance for redemption.
These stalwarts played their part brilliantly in the ODI World Cup last year on home soil as India went on a glorious unbeaten run to the final, with Rohit giving the team flying starts, Kohli consistently producing big scores and Jadeja finding his name among the top wicket-takers.
But in the final against Australia, none of the three managed to stand up and deliver a big match-turning performance.
They had 130,000 Indian fans cheering for them at the giant Narendra Modi Stadium, but Australia silenced them all.
Different ballgame
Murmurs of discontent have grown over the selectors’ decision to let these veterans be part of India’s squad in the T20 format, which has become a slave to the attack-minded young generation of cricketers who go berserk from the first ball.
So can this Indian side withstand the pressure against ultra-aggressive teams like England, South Africa, Australia and the West Indies?
India do have an explosive young batter of their own in Yashasvi Jaiswal at the top order. If they play him as an opener, his left-hand-right-hand partnership with skipper Rohit could be key to the team’s fortunes.
It would be interesting to see Rohit’s approach — would he attempt to replicate the swashbuckling form he displayed at the 2023 ODI World Cup? Or would he be okay to play the second fiddle in the powerplay if Jaiswal found his mojo?
At number three, Kohli remains the man who could conjure moments of magic and Jadeja is still an incredible team man.
Of course, a lot will also depend on Jasprit Bumrah’s role as the bowling spearhead, Kuldeep Yadav’s crafty left-arm spin, the form of their middle-order batters and Hardik Pandya's ability to bounce back from his nightmarish IPL 2024 campaign.
But every time, they are pushed into a corner, the think-tank will turn to their three most experienced campaigners — Rohit, Kohli and Jadeja.
They are unlikely to be challenged for a top-two finish in Group A, which also features arch-rivals Pakistan, USA, Canada and Ireland, their opponents on Wednesday.
But the real battle begins in the Super Eight where they will lock horns with three other Test-playing teams in one of the two groups for a place in the semifinals.
Anything less than a semifinal appearance would be a major disappointment for the three surviving members of India’s last ICC trophy-winning team.
And it’s not the farewell gift they would want to present Rahul Dravid, the outgoing Indian coach, with.
But if they do go on to reach the semifinals, Rohit’s team would do well to remember what Dhoni’s India did in 2013, which is to keep fighting until the last ball.
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Rituraj Borkakoty
Rituraj Borkakoty is Sports Editor and has spent more than two decades writing on his sporting heroes. He also loves an underdog story, so if you have one, share it with him. He would love to bring it to life.
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