ICC Champions Trophy 2017: Top 5 takeaways for ODIs from the tournament
The 2017 edition of the ICC Champions Trophy is done and dusted. Pakistan were crowned the champions after they defeated their arch-rivals India in the final showdown. And fittingly, the two best teams were in the final and the better team on the day won the game.
At the end of it all, the tournament ended up as a huge success. There was a criticism for the Champions Trophy as to why there needs to be another multi-nation ODI tournament when the ODI World Cup already exists. But this edition has certainly made a point for it to remain in the cricketing calendar once every four years.
ODI cricket was the beneficiary after all the hard fought matches and the 50-over format has got a much-needed revival after the advent of T20 cricket following the Champions Trophy. This tournament has laid the foundation of how the ODI cricket can be played in the future and also in the World Cup 2019 that will be held in England.
Here’s an analysis of the top 5 takeaways for ODIs from Champions Trophy 2017:
#1 Cautious starts
Throughout the tournament, the teams were inclined towards making cautious starts up front. Although the white ball didn’t swing as much as it was expected in England, the openers showed respect to the new ball bowlers.
The best opening pair amongst all was Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma. They had two century partnerships of 136 and 138 in which they had scores of 46 and 48 respectively at the 10-over mark. The new balls at either end generally stopped moving around after five to six overs at each end and by playing out the initial burst from the pacers, the batsmen later upped the ante.