5 reasons why England will defeat India to win the ICC Champions Trophy 2013

England have never been a heavyweight ODI side. One always gets the impression that the English have always valued the Ashes a little more, leaving themselves vulnerable to frequent disappointments in big ticket ICC competitions. The atmosphere is not very different in England this time around as the focus leading into the tournament was on the group-stage clash against the Aussies that was seen as a sort of prequel to the Ashes. However, the preparation for the Ashes seems to have translated into a successful Champions Trophy campaign. And a look at the set-up of the English Champions Trophy squad reveals that there is not a huge difference in the personnel. The bowling unit is pretty much the same whereas their Top-4 is reserved in its temperament, inclined towards the longer version of the game. The focus as of now, however, will be on the all important final against India.

England put up a very impressive performance against a potent South African side in the semi-finals. Their bowling attack, spearheaded by James Anderson, will pose a threat to the stellar Indian batting line-up. The Indian side will definitely put up more resistance in the batting friendly conditions at Edgbaston. This is most likely to be the battle within the battle that will decide the fate of this competition.

Here is a list of 5 reasons why England can bag a major ICC trophy come Sunday.

5. Home Conditions

England are the home side but you will hardly notice that at Edgbaston as the “Bharat Army” overpowers the Barmy Army. Indian supporters are always a step ahead in supporting their team and while England can’t do much about that, they can certainly make use of the conditions better. The fact that Edgbaston has not been producing traditional English wickets, the kind we saw in the semi-finals at Oval and Cardiff, lessens the impact of this factor but the English bowlers still stand a better chance at exploiting the early moisture in the pitch and the overcast conditions. The toss will be key.