India win ICC Champions Trophy 2013

Indian skipper MS Dhoni conquered the last frontier, as he added the ICC Champions Trophy to his list of trophies that included the Twenty20 World Cup 2007, ICC Test Championship 2009, ICC World Cup 2011 (ODI) and ICC ODI Championship 2013. India, the only unbeaten team in the tournament, defeated hosts England by 5 runs in a thrilling final to win the last edition of Champions Trophy. It was England’s 5th loss in 6 ICC finals.

Earlier, India had to share this trophy with Sri Lanka way back in 2002. In this tournament, including two warm-up games, India won all seven matches. They beat teams like Australia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, South Africa, West Indies and England. However, everyone will acknowledge that England choked and crumbled under pressure to lose a match that was well within their reach. Ishant Sharma’s 18th over was the turning point in this match.

It was a frustrating day for the cricket fans, as rain continued to play the spoilsport. When the match finally started, it was reduced to 20 overs a side. England had won the toss and elected to bowl first. Bopara wrecked havoc after a good cameo from Shikhar Dhawan (31) to leave India tottering at 66/5.

After the dismissal of top order in a shorter final, other Indian batsmen, who hardly got any batting practice in this tournament, faltered and got out cheaply. Karthik, Raina and Dhoni could not contribute more. India finally managed to score 129/7 in 20 overs, thanks to Kohli (43) and Jadeja (33*). For England, Bopara took three wickets.

Chasing a victory target of 130, England lost quick wickets and were 46/4 at one stage. However, Eoin Morgan (33) and Ravi Bopara (30) added 64 runs for the fifth wickets and had almost taken the game away from India. But, Ishant Sharma got both of them in successive balls to bring India back into the game.

Despite their best efforts, England finish at 124/8 in 20 overs and lost the match by 5 runs. For India, Jadeja, Ashwin and Ishant took two wickets each. MS Dhoni became the first captain in cricket history to win all ICC Trophies (Twenty20 World Cup, ODI World Cup and Champions Trophy). India are the 2nd team after West Indies to have won all the ICC limited over tournaments (20 and 50 over World Cups, Champions Trophy).

Ravindra Jadeja was declared ‘Man of the Match’ for his all-round performance. Jadeja also won the ‘Golden Ball’, as he took the maximum number of wickets (12). Shikhar Dhawan won the ‘Golden Bat’ award. He broke Ganguly’s record of 348 runs in a Champions Trophy tournament with 363 from 5 matches, which included two hundreds, one fifty and a 48.  Dhawan dedicated the award to the flood-hit people in Uttarakhand.