New Delhi (Nilesh Tiwari): With Rohit Sharma-Gautam Gambhir’s age being one of transition, just eight months after their own T20 World Cup victory, the Champions Trophy is an Indian cricket competition upon which everything depends, to borrow their own phrasing in using to describe it as, “All on the line.”
Hardly anyone thought this tournament would completely change India’s fortunes, though. Following the Australian tour, which exposed many weaknesses, this tournament provides either a chance for complete redemption or a meaningful wake-up call.
Despite all this, Captain Rohit Sharma is extremely relaxed and recommends the formats must not be blended. India has quite clearly come back with a bang in ODIs after being in a better phase during the last World Cup until they fell against Australia in the final. They can once again expose their attack. The 50-over format contest is the time.
India’s whole pace arsenal is bare without Jasprit Bumrah. The pace attack is Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, and Harshit Rana. Most seasoned among them is Shami. But the need of Shami becomes so huge because he toiled so much to get into rhythm after he came back from injury.
Rohit trusts him entirely, however, because he just keeps insisting that it is no more crucial to get the correct outcome now than to develop the rhythm.
Pacers in the UAE will handle seamers like Shami with more kid gloves, who also rely on getting the seam as much as they rely on creating movement, feels former international and current UAE coach Robin Singh.
India’s comparatively smaller pool of pacers will be put to the test, especially with Hardik Pandya also expected to chip in.
India, in the spin department, has a balance attack with Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Washington Sundar. Though their choice of having five spinners did raise a few eyebrows, Rohit has already made it clear that three of them are all-rounders and would contribute batting and bowling depth. The intention is to have an evenly balanced team which would give India stability in the long run.
India are eager to play Jadeja, Axar, and Kuldeep currently, Varun and Washington as a reserve. They are relying on their flexibility, using Varun judiciously at a later part of the tournament.
As India prepare to face the Champions Trophy, all eyes are waiting for a complete transformation and becoming the two best sides of ODI cricket. With the big guns in jeopardy and the future at stake, the tournament has all the makings of an Indian cricket turning point in the next two years.
“Shami played only two games and a few T20s obviously. Whatever it is that we had to do with Shami was to return in the Indian jersey at any cost. Whether it’s that he takes wickets or not at all, that was just a secondary thing then.”
We would pray that he should play again for India and he did play and all what I have come to know about him so far is just fabulous.
Whenever you say the name of a player like a veteran player like Shami who has played us so many times so many years, it’s a question for him of acclimatizing back to their routine and hopefully we have some kind of result at some initial stage of this tournament and give a boost to the team’s morale, Rohit made things clear.
