Finally, Some Real Cricket - A Champions Trophy Preview

With the most controversial season of the Indian Premier League having come to a close and England beating New Zealand to pulp in the two test home series, we are almost in time to cheer the top 8 teams in ODIs competing for the seventh and the last edition of the Champions Trophy. It’s the same tournament that started out as the ICC Knockout Trophy or also the Mini World Cup. By way of format, the Champions Trophy is way more challenging that the ICC Cricket World Cup, which gives the teams few easy matches against Associate nations to play against. Champions Trophy gives the teams no such leeway. Only teams that win all their three matches in their group are guaranteed of a place in the semi finals. Competitiveness is at its best!

Pakistan & England are the only teams that haven’t won the Champions Trophy since its inception in 1998 in Dhaka.

 Edition wise victors of the ICC Champions Trophy:

1998 (Dhaka) – South Africa

2000 (Nairobi) – New Zealand

2002 (Sri Lanka) – India & Sri Lanka (Shared)

2004 (England) – West Indies

2006 (India) – Australia

2009 (South Africa) – Australia

South Africa emerged winners in the inaugural edition in 1998 with some strong all round performances, captained by Hansie Cronje. 2000 edition saw New Zealand finally winning a global tournament, getting ahead of India who acted as giant killers till the finals with a fresh looking side. In Sri Lanka in 2002, two best teams in the tournament shared the trophy after competing in two incomplete finals. West Indies, with a rejuvenated side took the cricketing world by surprise by pushing other contenders aside with strong bowling performances. England was the other finalist in 2004. The 2006 edition, played in India again saw West Indies in the running for the trophy till the finals. Australia finally emerged victors and got hold of that one trophy missing from their cabinet all this while. Australia continued their dominance in the 2009 edition, played in South Africa, by winning their second Champions Trophy in a row.

 With the new season begins new challenges for the top teams. Their bid to stay in relevance, attempt to build the right team for the 2015 World Cup and of course to kick start the new season with a big win. Though it’s India that’s at the top of the ODI team rankings, it doesn’t top my list of favourites for the Champions Trophy. How? Lets go through the usual grind of analysis of teams, captains, pitches & conditions. Interestingly and in a way expectedly, most teams have selected players keeping in mind the World Cup 2015. Australian and Indian teams almost bear a new look.

South Africa & Pakistan are my pre tournament favourites (in this order) to win the tournament. These two are the teams with potent bowling attacks and strong batting line ups (Pakistan, not so much). Pakistan’s bowling more than makes up for their slightly brittle batting. Though they would be missing the services of Umar Gul, they have stocked the squad with good seam bowling options in Junaid Khan, Wahab Riaz, Ehsan Adil & the intimidating Mohammed Irfan. Saeed Ajmal, world’s best spinner today, & left arm spinner Abdul Rehman complete Pakistan’s well rounded bowling attack. Pakistan’s batting does not inspire much confidence. But much will be expected from Hafeez, Shoaib Malik & Misbah, the captain himself. In Nasir Jamshed, they have a reliable opener.  South Africa, with a batting line up consisting of Amla, du Plessis, de Villiers, Miller and bowling attack comprising of Steyn, Morkel, Tsotsobe are surely the front runners.

 Even though Australia is coming from a 0-4 blanking at India’s hands, they are still a force to reckon with in the ODI format. Clarke has men like Watson, Warner who on their day can change the game around and a bowling line up of sharp, incisive seamers in Johnson, Starc, Coulter-Nile & McKay. What’s exciting about the Australia squad is the inclusion of utility players in Faulkner, Voges, Maxwell & Mitchell Marsh. Australia will be looking forward to go into the Ashes with confidence of having done reasonably well in the Champions Trophy. With no Mike Hussey, he’d be looking forward for more from the likes of Hughes, Khawaja.

West Indies, from their World T20 win in 2012 will look to make a strong statement in the ODI format with a new captain in place in Dwayne Bravo and a strong team of performers who can turn a game on it’s head on their day. They would be looking towards Gayle & Charles for some riveting starts and depend on Darren Bravo, Sarwan to provide solidity in the middle order. Pollard remains a crucial cog with this all round skills. Roach, Rampaul will shoulder the pace bowling responsibilities. Newbie Jason Holder may not get chances in the all rounder heavy side. Sunil Narine will look to enhance his reputation as a match-winning spinner even in unhelpful English conditions. If West Indies progress ahead of the first round, Narine would have played an important part in it. Thus is his importance in the side.

Hosts England are engaged in a three match ODI series against the touring New Zealand, and faring pretty badly. This must be some ideal match practice ahead of Champions Trophy. But injury concerns are marring their run up to their first match versus Australia. Captain Cook has a relatively good side but England as an ODI side has never lived up to expectations. Without Kevin Pietersen, the middle order lacks the bite. Morgan, Trott & rookie Root will be crucial to England’s chances. Bowling though is a strong point for England. Anderson, Broad, Bresnan & Finn will do the majority of bowling. Tredwell is expected to fill in when required. Much of England’s chances depend on solid performances from Cook and combined bowling prowess of their pacers. They are up against a struggling Australia, Sri Lanka – team that struggles in unhelpful conditions & New Zealand – lesser known players with capability of springing surprises.

New Zealand comes into the Champions Trophy without the services of Daniel Vettori. Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill & Ross Taylor will be their pillars. Guptill will enter the Champions Trophy in fabulous form. New Zealand, high on confidence after beating the hosts in the first two games and winning the series, will look to carry it forward to the Champions Trophy. New Zealand were runners up in the 2009 edition losing to Australia in the finals. They won the cup in 2000 defeating India, with strong performance by Chris Cairns. They have had this knack of coming good in crucial tournaments. They will be a team to look forward to.

 Sri Lanka & India have off late struggled in unfriendly pitches, away from home. India line up wears an unfamiliar look with the likes of Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Tendulkar, Harbhajan, Zaheer missing. Others selected on merit have replaced them. Karthik comes into the tournament as the man in form for India, along with Kohli & Dhoni. India go in with an inexperienced opening combination and a weak set of bowlers. Ishant Sharma, even after 5 years in international cricket hasn’t been able to mould himself into a strike bowler. In Zaheer’s absence, Yadav will lead the pack. Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be expected to deliver his promise. He will be a handful on seamer friendly wickets. Ashwin & Jadeja will be used a lot to slow down the pace of the going ons and to fasten over rate. Much will depend on Dhoni, as he too will look to enhance his reputation as one of the best ODI batsman of all time. Also, the team needs to put in a good performance to reinstate the faith fans have in Indian cricket after all what has happened over the past three weeks.

Sri Lankan side for the Champions Trophy wears a weak look. Despite the presence of Dilshan, Sangakkara & Jayawardena, the team looks bare. Bowling will be manned by Malinga, Kulasekara & Herath, but it’s their batting in English conditions which would be a concern. Their three best batsmen are coming off a very poor season in the Indian Premier League. Considering their potential, they were a let down, so was their captain Angelo Mathews. They have all the reasons to be excited about rookies Kushal Perera, Dinesh Chandimal & Sachitra Senanayake.

Batsman to watch out for: Kushal Perera (Sri Lanka), Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik (India), Alastair Cook (England), Mohammed Hafeez (Pakistan), Shane Watson (Australia), AB de Villiers (South Africa), Martin Guptill (New Zealand)

Bowlers to watch out for: Sunil Narine (West Indies), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (India), Mohammed Irfan, Junaid Khan (Pakistan), Mitchell Starc (Australia), Steven Finn (England), Dale Steyn (South Africa)

It is going to be an ideal platform for the teams to showcase their preparedness for the 2015 World Cup, which is just 18 months away. Team that wins here takes massive confidence of having defeated best of teams.

This tournament will miss some important names that have been a big part of cricket over the last decade. Some of the key players missing this tournament due to injury and other reasons are: Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior (England), Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh (India), Jesse Ryder (New Zealand), David Hussey, James Pattinson (Australia), Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul (Pakistan).

The Champions Trophy won’t be missed much in its absence after this edition. The format though is challenging and only the best of the teams can make it through. If similar format is adapted for the World Cup, I doubt we’d have any useless matches. But for now, let’s enjoy the madness that is One Day International cricket.

Calm Post The Storm

Almost nine months since India clinched the World Cup 2011, international cricket has witnessed a sea of change. Change of captains for various teams. Crucial personnel have hung their boots. Debutants have taken centrestage and proved their worth in the international arena. 2011 has been a year where no one team have been able to declare supremacy. India, England, Australia and surprisingly Pakistan have had their moments, but none of them have dominated. As teams are gradually going through a transition phase, the right captains are being sought for.

Post April 2nd, eight of the ten test playing teams (including Zimbabwe) have seen a change in leadership. Only Dhoni for India and Sammy for West Indies have retained their roles 9 months since the World Cup. Both Dhoni and Sammy would are a part of their test teams purely as captains. They would've struggled to find a place in their sides based on purely batting, bowling or in Dhoni's case wicket keeping skills. In the ODI teams though, both have greater value. Dhoni, is a match winner for the team and Sammy makes up for lack of ground breaking skill with passion, energy and positivity.

Dhoni, post a dream World Cup, had a nightmarish tour of England. Having been blanked 8-0 in tests, ODIs and the only T20I, the captain was under immense pressure. Once back home, the team gathered steam against the same opposition and brown washed the visiting England 5-0 in ODIs with a team of youngsters in the absence of several seniors. The visiting West Indies got a taste of India's comeback abilities in the 2-0 test series defeat. Dhoni continues to back the youngsters and gets the best out of them. Seniors too have seemed content with Dhoni's captaincy.

Most teams have opted for a younger captain, whilst the veteran in team the plays senior mentor. Puzzling though has been the case of Sri Lanka, the World Cup runners up, where experienced campaigner Sangakkara retired immediately after the defeat in the finals in order to hand over the mantle to a younger captain. As events took turn, Tilakaratne Dilshan, who is older than Sangakkara was handed captaincy as it was felt Angel Matthews, the natural successor IMHO, was too young and inexperienced for the role. Logic would've dictated Sangakkara to have stayed on for a while more and groom Matthews or put the responsibilty on Matthews' shoulders like Kiwis did in 1996 with Lee Germon and South Africa did in 2003 by naming Graeme Smith as captain. Dilshan's reign hasn't exuded confidence up till now. Defeat in England in both tests and ODIs was followed up defeat at home against defiant Australians. Latest tour to the Middle East against Pakistan too ended in embarrassing defeats in Tests and ODIs.

While South Africa have opted for separate captains for the longer and shorter formats in Graeme Smith (for tests) and AB de Villiers (for ODIs & T20Is), England have gone a step ahead and have named three separate captains for the three formats. Andrew Strauss will continue to lead the test squad, Alastair Cook for ODIs and Stuart Broad for T20Is. While South Africa recently played a closely fought home series against Australia, losing the ODIs 2-1 and drawing the test series 1-1, England have had a dream run in tests and a horror run in ODIs. While South Africa will visit New Zealand this summer, England will play a rejuvenated Pakistan and a dispirited Sri Lanka in away conditions in the next few months.

It is never uncomplicated when it comes to Pakistan. Shortly after the World Cup, Afridi citing incompatibility with the Pakistan Cricket Board and then coach Waqar Younis, quit captaincy and announced untimely retirement from international cricket. Misbah ul Haq took charge of captaincy. Recent series win against the Sri Lankans must've given the Pakistanis a lot of heart. Youngsters taking responsibilities and veterans playing their role to the 'T', has been something Pakistan has been aiming for. In between these successes, former captain Shahid Afridi announced his return from retirement and declared his availability for selection for the ODIs against Sri Lanka. Selected he was and played match winning roles in the 4-1 series win.

For Australia, expectedly, Micheal Clarke has taken over as captain for Tests & ODIs and Cameron White for T20Is. Former captain Ricky Ponting still is a part of the Test and ODI teams. But the scrutiny on every performance of his increases as youngsters like Usman Khawaja and Callum Ferguson have been knocking the selection doors quite hard. Clarke's run up till now have been impressive and his personal form too seems to have flourished off late. His captaincy will be though tested against the visiting Indians later this summer.

New Zealand, since the World Cup haven't played much cricket. In captaincy news, Daniel Vettori announced retirement from the shorter formats to elongate his test career. Ross Taylor was named his successor for ODIs and T20Is. Their tour of Zimbabwe was marked by some good performances by the visitors and creditable fight backs from the home team. They have a tough tour of Australia ahead and they will be playing hosts to the warmed up South Africans later in the summers.

Bangladesh and Zimbabwe too have new captains after the World Cup. Shakib al Hasan and Elton Chigumbura have been replaced by dimunitive Mushfiqur Rahim and the enterprising Brendan Taylor. While Rahim hasn't had the best of times to begin with, Taylor has had an exceptional run. The team under him seems to have found the will to fight and he himself has lead by example in both Tests and ODIs. The chase of 328 against New Zealand in the third ODI recently showed that the team has enormous will to fight.

While the ODI sides have already begun targeting the World Cup 2015 in Australia, there is immense commotion on the top of the test rankings. England snatched the top ranking from India earlier this year. India & South Africa too are fighting hard to challenge England's recent rest domination. The next four months should make up for an interesting viewing as New Zealand & India tour Australia, Sri Lanka visits South Africa and South Africa in turn will travel to New Zealand. England's test match skills will be put to test as they visit Pakistan and Sri Lanka.