Prove people wrong: Theme of Champions Trophy 2013

As every mega sporting event unfolds, it acquires a distinct character of its own. The way each team plays, some individual superstars who dominate the tournament, the crowd and even other elements like weather can play its part in varying degree to give a particular sporting event an unique identity.

‘Prove people wrong’ might well be the apt theme for the just concluded ICC Champions Trophy 2013. Yes, India’s resurgence in this Championship played the most vital part in setting the theme, but it was not all about the Men in Blue.

To start off, the groundsmen at the Championship venues did a spectacular job of getting the arena cricket ready as soon as possible after every burst of shower threatened to disrupt a particular match, and from time to time proved people wrong when they felt a particular match would be abandoned. The pitches caught many people off-guard by aiding spin more than lateral seam movement, and even the cricket God chose this tournament to let all followers of the game know that he has no particular ire against the cricketers from the Rainbow nation. And, of course, there were individual cricketers like Jonathan Trott who proved his detractors wrong by being the most reliable English batsmen even in limited overs cricket.

Even after all that, this was India’s tournament in every sense of the word, and how the team as a unit; quite a few individuals themselves proved people wrong en route winning this coveted trophy. First up as a team, not many people backed India to go the distance in this tournament. India’s nightmarish tour in England two years back, the team’s limited arsenal of fast bowlers, inexperience of batsmen in these conditions had all played its part in limiting the expectations on this team. Add to it the, off-field controversies that plagued the team just prior to this tournament, and most cricket aficionados were concerned about India’s mental state leading into such high profile tournament.

But the beauty of cricket, or for that matter, any sport is that is not played in the strategy rooms. Therefore, what looks improbable on paper may turn possible on the field. Like the Italian soccer team of 2006, the Indian cricket team in 2013 paid a fitting tribute to its ardent supporters who had been by its side in the tumultuous times. In the process, they played some fearless, attractive cricket that made for a great spectacle.

One of the things that stood out for the Men in Blue in this edition of the Champions Trophy was its fielding. While in the past, we have had a few glimpses of good Indian fielders like Eknath Solekar, Md. Azharuddin or Yuvraj, but they shone despite the system and not because of it. But the same cannot be said of the current crop.

After the final, Dhoni stressed how the youngsters coming through the ranks these days have had the privilege of benefiting from excellent cricket infrastructure right from their junior days, something that players from his time or before did not have access to. And that explains how we have a whole bunch of good fielders coming together now, and we witnessed the importance that fielding can have in deciding the fate of a cricket match.