India Do A T20 To Lift The ICC Champions Trophy-2013!

It was a miracle of a match. Rains being a spoilsport in the most important encounter of the tournament the final between India and England in Edgbaston finally became a T20 match with one-day rules. England in the morning won the toss and looking at the weather decided naturally to field first. Then the rains, rains and rains. The crowds never gave up hope though. Some genuine cricket lovers of genuine cricket cursed the ICC for not keeping a reserve day for the all-important final involving the hosts England and the best undefeated team of the tournament India.

India started batting with the opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma making a relatively good start, though repeated rain interruptions did not help them much. England had them on the mat at 65/5 in the 14^th over. But thanks to the most incredible all-rounder for India in this tournament Ravindra Jadeja with Virat Kohli took his team to a fighting 129/7 in the allotted twenty overs. While not even the most optimistic really thought India would win India had England on the mat at 46/4 in the 9^thover Bopara and Morgan almost ensured an England win. Then the miracle of miracles.

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni brought on his most expensive bowler of the chasse Ishant Sharma in the 18^th over saving his most precious spinners Jadeja and Ashwin for the last two overs when most cricket expert said the match would almost be over by then as England needed just 30 runs off three overs with six wickets remaining. Ishant was hit for a six...to make matters worse he bowled two wides next…and then…he took two wickets in two balls. England batsmen got into a maze giving India an extremely avoidable run out. With the unplayable spinners in operation England had a hard task hauling up the required 19 runs off the last two overs. Finally India won the match by a miraculous five-run margin and became the deserving winner of the ICC Champions Trophy-2013 played in England and Wales.

What a way to compensate for the domestic unrest regarding the IPL Spot or Match fixing scandal. That there was not even a single firecracker burst in Mumbai said volumes about people’s loss of faith in the game. But mind you, even the deftest and experienced bookies, betters, punters, brokers and fixers just could not have had a clue to this match of unpredictable twists and turns. More seriously, the tale of utter devastation and sufferings and loss of lives in the north Indian state of Uttarakhand following torrential rains and cloud bursts could be one crucial reason for the apathetic response to a most memorable Indian win.

The Scorecard!

That India now has the ICC Champions Trophy too in its bag is still some good reason to celebrate a little. At least some good to get over the ugly to some extent. In our opinion poll eighty percent voted for an Indian win. We thank all of you for participating.

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