This Day That Year: India beat England in a thriller to win the 2013 Champions Trophy title
Under the captaincy of MS Dhoni, the Indian Cricket Team
held their nerves to beat England in the finals of 2013 Champions Trophy played
at Edgbaston, Birmingham on 23rd June.
In a rain-curtailed match reduced to 20 overs, England
captain Alistair Cook won the toss and decided to field first. The Indian
openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma started cautiously as the first power
play was reduced to 4 overs. Rohit was dismissed by Stuart Broad for 9. At the end
of 4 overs, India scored 19 for 1.
Shikhar Dhawan looked in decent touch. With the scoreboard
reading at 28 for 1, rain arrived. After the rain break, Dhawan played with
positive intent and put pressure on England bowlers. Ravi Bopara made the
breakthrough dismissing Dhawan for 31 off 24 balls. Dhawan and Kohli added 31
runs for the 2nd wicket.
The England bowlers kept picking wickets at regular
intervals and reduced India to 66 for 5. Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja rescued
the innings with a vital 47 runs stand for the 6th wicket. Both
batsmen hit rotated the strike and put pressure back on the England bowlers.
Kohli was dismissed for a brilliant 43 off 34 balls. Ravindra Jadeja hit some
lusty blows at the end to help India post 129 for 7 in 20 overs.
Chasing 130 runs to win, it was not an ideal start for the
hosts as Alistair Cook was caught at slips by Umesh Yadav for just 2. Ian Bell
and Jonathan Trott steadied the innings with some good strokes. At the end of 4
overs, England scored 24 for 1.
Ravichandran Ashwin provided the breakthrough as he
dismissed Trott with a brilliant stumping by MS Dhoni. Trott and Bell added 25
runs for the 2nd wicket. Ashwin struck again to get rid of Joe Root
to put England under pressure. Soon after, Ian Bell was brilliantly stumped by
MS Dhoni which made the hosts stutter at 44 for 4. Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara took
some time before taking on the Indian bowlers.
With 28 runs required off last 3 overs, MS Dhoni bought
Ishant Sharma into the attack. He was smashed for a six and then bowled 2 wide deliveries.
Ishant then produced the magic by dismissing Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara off
successive balls to bring back India into the match. Morgan and Bopara added 66
runs for the 5th wicket.
Ravindra Jadeja produced a beauty to dismiss Jos Buttler. In
the same over, Tim Bresnan was run out and titled the match in favor of India.
With 14 runs required to win off the final over, Ashwin held his nerves as he
gave away just 9 runs. Needing 6 from 1 ball, he did not give any runs to James
Tredwell which India a thrilling 5 run win.
The Indian team dominated the entire tournament without
losing a single from the warm-up games. Shikhar Dhawan was awarded the golden
bat for most runs while Ravindra Jadeja was awarded the Golden Ball for most
wickets.
MS Dhoni became the only captain to win all three ICC
trophies.
India 129 for 7 in 20 overs ( Kohli 43, Jadeja 33*, Bopara
3/20) beat England 124 for 8 in 20 overs ( Morgan 33, Bopara 30, Jadeja 2/24,
Ashwin 2/15) by 5 runs.
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| This Day That Year India beat England to lift the CT 2013 title |
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