Monday, June 24, 2013

Champions Trophy: Summary

Congratulations India on winning probably the last of its kind Champions Trophy. India deserved to win this tournament and so did they.
My impression about this whole tournament has been odd. First thing I felt was there should be a big "NO" to any big tournaments in England. England is synonymous with rains. You can not imagine any tournament happening there with out rain interruption. More than half of the matches were rain interrupted and their results were decided by the funny Duckworth-Lewis rules to such an extent that I renamed the trophy to Duckworth-Lewis trophy
Most of the matches in the tournament were reduced to around 20 overs match. Even yesterday's Final had to be reduced to 20 over a side match. It is absolutely ridiculous to decide about a one-day  match in 20 overs match. The difference between a One day Cricket match and 20:20 match is the kind of temperament required in one day match to stay on the wicket for 50 overs and still score runs at a quick rate. If you are reducing the match to 20 overs, there is no room to judge that temperament. With the outcome of such a match of reduced over you can not justify the selection of a one day match Champion. The ICC even don't wanted to allot an extra day to play Finals had their been no chance of play on Sunday. I started wondering why they took so much efforts of organizing the tournament. They could have just rolled dice and decided the Champion. The matches in this tournament were actually no different than that.
In spite of all the facts, I felt India was the only team that deserved to win and yes, England was the only team that deserved to appear in Finals along with India. I was wondering if rest of the Countries sent their secondary team for this tournament. Teams of New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Pakistan were nothing but pathetic. I blame D/L rules for allowing South Africa to be in Semi Finals. They were not that good. West Indies should have made it to Semis. I am pretty sure they would have given better fight to England and might even have made it to Finals. But thanks to D/L rules, England got easy way.
Indian team stood out of the league. They looked too good to be with other teams. The way they won their league matches and Semi Finals, not to forget the practice matches, they looked in better shape. Except for New Zealand they played and defeated all the teams. They defeated England in the Finals yesterday in reduced 20:20 over match. I am not sure if the result would have been the same had it been a complete match. But India surely looked a better team than England and that's why it was the Favorite to win the Trophy.
I did not enjoyed the tournament. A tournament like this should be played to the full extent before declaring a Champion. But what the hell, India is probably the last Champions Trophy Winner. Congratulations India.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I feel its the thrill which has to be there .. i beg to differ Doc..rains till they are a complete spoiler .. disallowing an entire match , add up to the excitement.. thats the reason India earned its trophy fighting odds !
had it been a complete match England could not have even thought of giving India a tough fight

drkaustubhjoshi said...

Well yes, thrill is a must for Sports. What I want to say is you go to watch a serious movie known for subject and all you remember after movie is an Item song that Katrina Kaif made look exciting. Its something of this type that happened in this tournament. All you remember is 20:20 kind of stuff thanks to rain and D/L rules, not the seriousness/temperament, building up the inning, that comes with One day. Well that's what I missed.

Anonymous said...

It was a thriller and A well deserved trophy for India...

drkaustubhjoshi said...

It indeed is.

Easwar Arumugam said...

Our boys deserve it. Congrats!

Anonymous said...

I got your point !! Not the excitement of One Dayers !! True !! But doc ..I think it was good for England .. for the finals .. :D They could not have given India a fight .. Team India's mentality has turned as arrogant as once Australian Team's mentality used to be .. and with that kind of mentality ...you shake your opponents bad .. the demerit is when it breaks .. it brings you down to ashes .. but till the time Dhoni is there ..he will never let that fall.. he is a businessman dedicated towards his business :)

drkaustubhjoshi said...

I agree, England could not have given India any real fight. But I feel India is not yet as arrogant as Australia was. Wait for Kohli's rise to Dhoni's position. Then what you said will turn true.

bungee05 said...

India adapted better than other teams and won. When the 50 over match became a T-20 match India was ready and so was England. But Dhoni read Cook's mind and knew that Cook was not going to ask for power play till it became inevitable. Dhoni attacked their mindet by bringing on Ishant. England saw this as an easy chance to make some cheap runs and deviated from their plan A. Once the mind set was changed the India fielders and bowlers pounced on their confused prey and consumed the two set batsmen and those who followed. But you seem to have missed the whole point friend. The rain wrote a better script and most of us loved it.

drkaustubhjoshi said...

I must say that is a great analysis. Sounds like by some one from inner circles of Dhoni.