Champions are Back!!

We have been offline since we won the T20 World Cup 2024, Behind the stumps started from the same campaign and we did lift that beauty after an 11 year drought. I guess we are back again to bring in one more. I know the BGT didn’t go our way and we are out of WTC Final 2025 but we can’t have it all. So let’s be fair with what sport brings and move on to next one. (Tough to do though but we gotta do).

We have landed in Dubai (Thanks to Jay Shah) with a lot of controversy over venue, team selection and the number of spinners which was also very similar to T20 World Cup 2024, Only time will tell how things unfold.

Gabbar Returns

What better way to start the Champions Trophy than with Shikhar Dhawan and yes he’s the perfect brand ambassador for Champions trophy. These two started a new era in ODI back in 2013 in South africa and here they are catching up. Dhawan’s evergreen smile in the dressing room is a welcome sight.

Team Selection Controversy

So with the toss we were sure that we want to chase and it made sense from the past record in Dubai, Dew playing a huge role but each one of us was disappointed with selection of Harshit rana over Arshdeep singh, being a left-arm pacer with swing, slower variations, and yorkers. Many see it as GG’s obsession than anything else and it does make sense when Siraj was dropped for Arshdeep it made a sense, but when he was denied a spot when Bumrah got ruled out of CT it was not justified.

Let’s Hope Harshit ploy doesn’t go wrong and we could see Arshdeep in action.

Bangladesh’s Struggle & Shami’s Comeback

Bangladesh was denied a good start by Md Shami and with that ripper we could see Lala is back. Wickets kept falling and Axar chipped in with two in two, both beautifully caught by KL only to miss hattrick by a regulation catch drop by skipper. Rohit was indeed frustrated and it was all seen on camera but Bapu did miss a golden opportunity to be only 2nd bowler in CT history and first from India to be on that elite list. After that Bangladesh did fought back hard and put on a 150 Partnership for 6th wicket.

Towhid hridoy was able to bring some joy on bangladesh fans with his fighting knock and maiden ODI hundred. As it looked we are going wicketless for a long time Lala was brought in and he did not disappoint with another fifer in ICC tournament even making it to leading wicket taker for India in ICC ODI tournaments.

Chasing like the Old times

We had a target of 229 to chase and we did start with bang on powerplay the RoHIT way as usual and it was swinging more than the first innings as expected. Rohit did cross a landmark of 11,000 ODI runs. Just 4th Indian after Sachin, Kohli and Ganguly. Expect him to cross Ganguly this tournament.

This was very interesting stat from being in a list of slowest to 2000 runs to the list of fastest to 11000 runs. Not to forget Champions trophy 2013 was game changer for him being promoted as opener and he never looked back after that. Sun has risen and how.

After Rohit’s wicket, Virat had a brief stay at the crease finding a fielder for his cut shot after losing his shape and we expect him to go big on sunday. Both Shreyas and Axar holed out their big shots to the fielders and the pitch was not easy to bat on. It had a lot of turn in it than afternoon and it was surprising to see that. An early reality check to us playing our all games here.

Gill for the Kill

Despite all this there was one man taking us home gill way. What a sublime touch he was in playing his pulls and short arm jabs. He did play slow after the small collapse and it was needed to play that way on difficult pitch. KL did support him with effective cameo surviving twice and it was a good game time for him.

Shubman played a good inning and this 100 was in a difficult situation. His consistency has been crazy this year with 2 hundred and 2 fifties from 4 matches. Expect him to do the job 4 more times. Just couple of days before the match he was No. 1 ranked ODI batter and he justified so with his inning.

Just before his hundred we were worried if KL will get out and Hardik will come to crease to deny him that 100, IYKYK 😂. Hopefully we did see his 100 and KL finished the game with a six.

This is more like continuing the legacy of ODI greats being carried from more than decade and finishing the game with not out next to your name. We hope this will continue and we will see more of it in coming days.

Up Next: The Big One – India vs Pakistan

Now we move to Super sunday, India Vs Pakistan. This is going to be sweet revenge for 2017 final as a win here will knockout hosts from this tournament. No Jinx but we are up for class knock from Delhi boy!!

Jai Hind.