No matter how glitzy, glamorous, and trendy T20 cricket might become, the curious thing is that in the collective cricketing consciousness, the longer the format, the more weight a tournament seems to carry. Ask yourself this: how much of the hurt and pain of India losing the 2023 ODI World Cup final did the 2024 T20I World Cup title win realistically take away? Don't be afraid to say, ‘not much'. After all, that's how most cricket fans felt. The ‘what-ifs' and the ‘if-onlys' of India's performance in the final of the last ODI World Cup continue to haunt many of us. Just like the disastrous Test tour of Australia recently. These will continue to sting until a like-for-like tournament is won comprehensively.
A Chance For Redemption
A chance to reassure the fans that the number-one-ranked ODI team in the world is actually capable of beating the best teams is what makes the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy such an important tournament for the men in blue. Somewhere, in the minds of Indian cricket fans, their faith in the team in the ODI format was shaken after that catastrophic evening in Ahmedabad on November 19, 2023, and perhaps hit rock bottom when India lost a bilateral ODI series against Sri Lanka for the first time in 27 years. Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir now have the opportunity to exorcise those demons once and for all and set the tone for the future of Indian ODI cricket, in the run-up to the next World Cup.
Why An ICC Title Is Important
India go into the Champions Trophy having played a total of just nine ODIs since losing the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup. However, they are coming off a comprehensive 3-0 series win against England at home (albeit the English are ranked as low as seventh in the ODI rankings). Confidence levels will be high. Add to that the fact that the team will be based in Dubai and away from most of the tournament buzz and cacophony. The Dubai stadium is likely to be packed to the rafters with largely expatriate and some travelling Indian fans.
But fan support is the last thing the management will be thinking about. The first big thing they want to get right is team combination. Remember, Indian cricket does not follow a system of knee-jerk reactions. In a team full of big names, just because someone is underperforming in a couple of matches does not mean they will be dropped. In other words, playing XI selection is absolutely crucial in a tournament like this one, where one slip-up could cost the team a place in the semi-finals. Though, having said that, under coach Gautam Gambhir, we are probably likely to see most players being given a shorter rope than in the past. That, in turn, makes the intra-team environment all the more competitive, at a time when everyone in the system is focused on acquiring the perfect remedy for some of the wounds that are still fresh—an ICC title.
A Surprising Mix
One decision that surprised many was the call to include as many as five spinners in the final squad. Now, that is a very interesting decision. Indian spinners can be lethal in strangling opposition batters, but as many as five spin options seem a bit much perhaps, especially given what we saw in the recently concluded ILT20 tournament. Fast bowlers held sway in what are winter conditions in the UAE. Nine out of ten of the most successful bowlers of the ILT20 this time were pacers. Also, host nation Pakistan, who have picked only one specialist spinner, will also play India in Dubai. The nature of the pitch could well be one that gives little or no help to the tweakers. The management clearly likes to have various batting options, and in Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja, the team has two genuine all-rounders who are also very effective spin bowlers. These two look like the two first-choice spinners, as of now. But then, you also have someone like the new and improved Varun Chakravarthy, who was the leading wicket-taker (14 wickets) in the T20I series vs England and forced his way into the Indian ODI and then Champions Trophy squads.
How can you not play possibly the most attacking wicket-taking spin option, who is regularly challenging batters with his menacing dip and bounce? If you do, that means India will have three spinners in the playing XI, with perhaps Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar, who can also elongate the batting, on the bench. There's no way Hardik Pandya will not make the cut for the playing XI. If he is bowling at full tilt, does the management decide to play two out-and-out pacers? It sure looks like we could see three spinners in the India XI. Is this a sign of things to come in ODIs in the sub-continent? Either way, for Chakravarthy, this could well be a career-defining tournament.
A Setup For Future
If what Team India did in the 3-ODI series vs England is any indication, we will, in all probability, see four specialist batters, followed by the first-choice wicketkeeper, followed by potentially three all-rounders—in all probability Hardik, Axar and Jadeja—followed by two genuine pacers, which could well be Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Shami, followed by the third spinner, in all likelihood, Chakravarthy. If this combination works, it could be a lock for future ODI assignments in similar conditions.
But bowling could also end up being India's Achilles' heel. There is no Jasprit Bumrah—someone who can take the pitch and the conditions out of the equation. Shami is back after an injury and hasn't hit his straps yet. If Hardik the bowler is not at his best, it would be unfair to expect Arshdeep Singh to deliver a single-handed impact. And if the Dubai tracks don't offer too much assistance to the spinners, that would just make matters worse. The management perhaps is hoping that spinners like Axar and Chakravarthy, who are not heavily pitch-dependent, can deliver regardless of the conditions. According to reports, the Dubai Capitals, who won the last edition of the ILT20, began with four pacers and two spinners, but had to then bring in another spinner, as the tracks got slower. Have Team India then got it absolutely right?
India also need to get the pick of the first-choice wicketkeeper absolutely right. If the England series was any indication, it's KL Rahul who will bat at either five or six. But do you then keep someone like Rishabh Pant—an out-and-out attacking batter—on the bench? Gambhir has gone on record to say that KL is the team's first-choice keeper and there's no way they will play two keeper-batters. In other words, the Champions Trophy this time could well be a watershed opportunity for KL Rahul. The 32-year-old, who has a career ODI average of almost 48, is likely to get a golden chance to cement his place in the side as the preferred keeper, ahead of Pant. He has the coach's backing, and after an underwhelming performance in the ODIs vs England (52 runs in 3 innings), this is one opportunity he just can't afford to let go of.
A Reckoning For The Two
And then, of course, there is the million-dollar question—can Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli prove that they can still be considered solid long-term ODI options? The two batting stalwarts did show some signs of brilliance in the ODIs vs England recently, but the Champions Trophy outing is going to be the real litmus test for them. Neither can realistically survive a below-par outing. The next edition of the ODI World Cup is over two years away and the pressure to call it quits, at least from this format, will just be too high, unless they can play tournament-defining knocks.
Suffice to say that there is a lot at stake.
(The author is a former sports editor and primetime sports news anchor. He is currently a columnist, features writer and stage actor)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
