Can India defend their Champions Trophy title?

The Champions Trophy was called the ICC Knockout tournament in 1998 and 2000. There have been 7 editions of this prestigious tournament. South Africa, West Indies, New Zealand have won the Champions Trophy title once while Australia have won it twice in 2006 and 2009. India shared the title with Sri Lanka in 2002 and then won it in 2013.

After a hectic Indian Premier League tournament, the Indian Cricket team will be leaving for England today night to defend their Champions Trophy title that they won in 2013 under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Four years later, Virat Kohli will be leading the Men in Blue for the first time in major ICC tournament. Going into the tournament, the biggest problem for India could be that they have played only three one-day International matches against England which was played in January.

In 2017 edition of Champions Trophy, Team India has been clubbed with arch-rivals Pakistan, Sri Lanka and South Africa. Before the blockbuster tie against Pakistan on 4^th June, they will play 2 warm-up matches against New Zealand on 28^th and Bangladesh on 30^th May respectively. The selectors have gone with experience for this prestigious tournament.

Rohit Sharma will be making a comeback into the Indian team after injuring his groin in October opened the innings in that tournament scoring 177 runs from 5 matches. He proved his match fitness in the recently concluded IPL 10. Shikhar Dhawan was the leading run scorer in the previous Champions Trophy 2013 with 363 runs also makes a comeback into the team after good Indian Premier League 2017. The third back opener will be Ajiyanka Rahane who has a good technique against good quality bowling.

If the openers can give the Indian team good starts, then the middle order comprising of Virat Kohli who scored 176 runs in 5 matches during the 2013 edition. Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav are explosive players who are capable of smashing the opposition bowlers to all parts of the ground. Dinesh Karthik has been called to the Indian team after an injury to Manish Pandey. He had a great domestic season for Tamil Nadu this year.

Hardik Pandya would be an important member for team India as the conditions in England could help the fast bowlers. He could provide quick runs coming at number 7.

The Indian selectors have gone with 2 spinners in the form of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. R Ashwin did not play the entire IPL 2017 and needs to be at his best during the Champions Trophy 2017. In the 2013 edition, Ravichandran Ashwin took 8 wickets in 5 matches. Ravindra Jadeja who did not perform according to expectations for Gujarat Lions was the best bowler in 2013 edition with 12 wickets in 5 matches. Both of them played a key role in helping restricting opponent batsmen to score runs easily. 

"I might be able to throw something new in this tournament (Champions Trophy), hopefully. I am equipped enough to do so. The two warm-up games (vs New Zealand, vs Bangladesh) will give me an indication on how well I go in the tournament," Ashwin said on the sidelines of the CEAT Tyres annual awards.

"IPL has only done well for Indian cricket. A lot of players from other countries have echoed the same feeling about how much talent India is throwing up from IPL and it will continue to happen," signed off Ashwin.

"Last time also we went there to enjoy and that is what we will look to do this time too. We have done well in Test cricket and T20s and we want to make that success constant in all three formats. The biggest challenge is to not think that we are the defending champions," the Indian captain said.

"I think because the tournament is shorter and involves all the top teams, the Champions Trophy is far more competitive than other big tournaments. It will grab a lot of eye balls. So we are up for the challenge," the talisman said.

It is a great site to see a strong pace bowling line up. Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be an ideal bowler in England if it is helpful for fast bowlers. He performed brilliantly in the recently concluded VIVO IPL 2017 taking 26 wickets for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Umesh Yadav has been the star bowler for team India and would be looking to continue his form in Champions Trophy 2017.

Since his debut against Australia last year, the Indian team has found a bowler who bowls well in the death overs and also picks wickets in the middle overs. Mohammed Shami will be making a comeback into the One-day International squad after the 2015 World Cup. Hardik Pandya could chip with his medium pace bowling.

India It is one of the strongest contenders to lift the title. They will play their first match against Pakistan on 4^th June, 8^th June against Sri Lanka and the final group match against South Africa. This will be the biggest test for

Virat Kohli as he would be leading team India for the first time in a major tournament. Their biggest hurdle could be England or Australia in the semi-finals. In the last edition, the Indian team won the tournament without losing a match.

It promises to be a mouthwatering tournament with top 8 teams in the world taking on each other and hope that India lifts the title again for the second time in a row. The Indian team has great record reaching the semi-finals of the first edition in Bangladesh winning 1 and losing 1, reaching the finals in 2000 edition losing to New Zealand at Nairobi winning 3 and losing 1, shared the title with Sri Lanka in 2002 winning 3 and no result 1. In 2004 the Indian team won 1 and lost 1 but was not able to reach the knockout rounds in England. In 2009 under the captaincy of MS Dhoni, the Men in Blue played 3 matches winning 1, losing 1 and no result 1 in South Africa. The Indian team won 5 matches in 2013 edition at England. In total they have appeared in all editions playing 23 matches winning 15, losing 6 and no result 2 times a win percentage of 71.42%.