Congratulations, India! Boy, did they cut it fine! After all that waiting for the Edgbaston rain to subside, I was disappointed at India's progress as Bopara and Tredwell invited mishit or mistimed thumps to fielders. Some late strokes from Ravi Jadeja advanced the score to 129-7 but that looked such an easy target I grudgingly handed over the remote to my cricket widow certain of the result. How wrong was I, and how miffed that I hadn't clung to the gadget so as to witness the thrilling climax of the Champions Trophy final.
The spin of Jadeja and Ashwin throttled the top order then Ishant Sharma, while expensive, claimed the wickets of Bopara and Morgan. Cue the collapse and India had triumphed by a mere five runs. Brilliant that we had experienced any play at all, so perhaps the groundstaff and umpires deserve some thanks, too. With Edgbaston turned into another home game for Dhoni et al, I don't think anyone could really begrudge India this success. Following their World Cup triumph, they can now call themselves the one-day kings. In the past fortnight they won games over 20, 40 and 50 overs, twice chasing down targets in only 35!
The Champions Trophy threw up great performances by numerous players, but a team of the tournament would surely consist largely of Indians. Shikhar Dharwan compiled 363 runs, over 50% more than the next man, Jonathan Trott. And he scored them at more than a run a ball. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were alos amongst the runs, so much so that the rest of the line-up barely had a look-in. Ravi Jadeja's double in the final earned him the Golden Ball, or whatever is awarded to the highest wicket-taker of the competition. An economy rate of under four an over was equally impressive. Indeed, there were no real weak links in the side ove rthe past few weeks. Even the much-maligned Ishant Sharma played his part, and all fielded brilliantly. I know Test cricket poses a different challenge but suddenly life without Tendulkar, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Sehwag, Harbajhan and Zaheer Khan doesn't look so bleak.
But what about England? Their run of failures in proper ODI tourneys continues. Poor South Africa have been lumbered with the 'choker' tag but surely England are more deserving of the unwanted label. They've lost far more finals than the Proteas! Actually, I think that description is just lazy. Sometimes you have to concede defeat to a better team on the day. I don't think England weren't trying; it's just moments of bad luck or a fine line between a superb boundary and an outfield catch which decide a finale. With KP predictably smashing a big century for Surrey in his comeback match, would he have made a difference to England's side? Possibly, but he would probably have taken Bopara's place, and he had a pretty good tournament. No, just hand it to India. Played five, won five. Simply the best in June 2013, and young enough hopefully to thrill spectators in limited over cricket for years to come.
