BIRMINGHAM: India clinched the ICC Champions Trophy with a nail-biting five-run victory over England in a rain-truncated final here, leaving the hosts “devastated” by another failed attempt to break their long-standing jinx of winning a major ODI title.
After persistent showers reduced the contest to a T20 affair, India first scored 129 for seven and then restricted England to 124 for eight in a topsy-turvy game that left a capacity crowd at the edge of their seats in the tense dying moments of the summit showdown.
Ravindra Jadeja (33 not out and 2/24) made another all-round contribution in India’s dramatic win which also gave Mahendra Singh Dhoni the remarkable distinction of being the only captain in international cricket to win three world titles.
The sizeable Indian crowd, who defied rains and the chilly winds, erupted in joy when Ravichandran Ashwin (2/15) finished the final over with James Tredwell unable to hit the required six off the last delivery.
Skipper Dhoni jumped in joy as the delirious Indian players hugged each others while the others were busy collecting stumps as souvenir to mark another glorious chapter in history of Indian cricket.
This was India’s second Champions Trophy title having won the first one jointly with Sri Lanka back in 2002. For India, the trophy also came two days before the 30th anniversary of maiden World Cup triumph back on June 25, 1983.
India’s win left England still searching for their first major ODI trophy after defeats in three World Cup finals (1979, 1987 and 1992) and a loss to the West Indies at The Oval in the 2004 Champions Trophy final when they last staged.
“We are devastated…As a captain I had high hopes of achieving something special. We had the opportunity but could not do it,” Cook said after the match.
For the Indian skipper, the victory was all the more special as he became the only captain to have won three ICC tournaments –T20 World Cup in 2007, the ODI World Cup in 2011 and now the Champions Trophy.
It was a commendable show by the Indians who not only maintained an unbeaten track record right through the event but managed to put behind the spot-fixing scandal that rocked Indian cricket just before the start of the tournament.
India got an early breakthrough when skipper Alastair Cook guided one to Ravichandran Ashwin at first slip off Umesh Yadav’s bowling. England’s in-form batsman Jonathan Trott (20) hit a couple of sweetly timed boundaries but Ashwin got better of him.
Coming from round the wicket, he drew Trott forward with an off-break that pitched on leg-stump and turned as Dhoni completed a smart stumping.
From 28 for two, it soon became 40 for three as Ashwin accounted for Joe Root with his ‘leg-theory’. It was another delivery tossed in line of the leg-stump as Root mistimed a pull-shot and was holed in the deep by Ishant Sharma.
Ian Bell (13) could consider himself unlucky as he got a raw deal from third umpire Bruce Oxenford. He was adjudged stumped off Jadeja’s bowling when TV replays showed that Bell had got his foot back before Dhoni was able to whip off the bails.
At 46 for four, England were in dire straits with their best T20 player Eoin Morgan (33) at the crease. Along with Ravi Bopara (30), the duo added 64 runs for the fifth wicket before Ishant dealt a double blow.
First he removed Morgan who fetched a slower to be caught by Ashwin at mid-wicket. Then he bowled a short one which was again gobbled by Ashwin standing at square leg this time.
From 110 for four, England slumped to 113 for eight losing four wickets in the addition of only three runs.
The last few overs turned out to be interesting as man-of-the-match Jadeja gave only four runs of the penultimate over and also got Jos Butler out.
With 15 required of the final over, Ashwin kept his cool to mix it up well and gave only 10 runs in the end.
Earlier, Indian top-order failed to deliver when it mattered the most as they were restricted to a modest 129 for seven by a disciplined England attack.
Couple of stoppages after the match finally started also didn’t help India’s cause. Barring in-form Shikhar Dhawan (31) and Virat Kohli (43 off 34 balls), no other top-order batsmen made significant contribution after India were put into bat.
Kohli and Jadeja (33 no) added 47 runs for the sixth wicket after India were reduced to 66 for five.
Ravi Bopara’s (3/20 in 4 overs) brilliant incisive spell in the middle overs proved to be invaluable for England’s cause as the largely untested Indian middle-order couldn’t stand up and be counted on the D-Day.
Rohit Sharma (9) yet again baffled one and all as he played an irresponsible shot off a Broad delivery which came in after pitching. Rohit didn’t have any footwork as he played across the line to get castled.
In-form Dhawan had no such worries as he started from where he had left against Sri Lanka in the semi-final. The first significant shot was a slash over backward point off Broad for a six.
The start-stop affair did hamper the proceedings and Dhawan hit a slog sweep off James Tredwell after the second rain interruption and followed it up with another deft reverse sweep to enter the 30’s.
However it was Bopara’s gentle seam-up stuff that brought about an end to Dhawan’s innings. The ball stopped on the left-hander who tried to make room to hoick it over cover but only managed to find Tredwell. Dhawan’s 31 came off 24 balls with two boundaries and a six.
Dhoni’s decision to send Dinesh Karthik (6, 11 balls) above himself and Suresh Raina was surprising considering the match was curtailed to 20 overs. Karthik struggled to get going during his brief stay as he was holed out by Morgan trying a wild sweep.
The watershed moment of the match came when Bopara struck twin blows dismissing both Raina and Dhoni in the 13th over of the innings.
Raina (1) was also done in by the slowness of the pitch as his attempted lofted shot over mid-on off Bopara never got the required elevation with skipper Cook taking a simple catch.
Dhoni (0) went for a big hard slash over point when Bopara dug one short but managed to find the fielder in the deep. From 50 for one, it suddenly became 66 for five.
Kohli carried manfully as India reached 100 in the 18th over. The best shot he hit was a six over deep mid-wicket of Broad. Jadeja took a leaf out of Kohli’s book to loft Anderson over extra cover. –PTI
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