India's Triumph in 20-20 Sprint: India vs England 2013 Champions Trophy Final

India clinched a sensational victory in the 20-20 cricket championship, led by the exceptional leadership of MS Dhoni.

As the world’s first skipper to win every ICC trophy, MS Dhoni led brilliantly.

England 124 for 8 (Morgan 33, Ashwin 2-15, Jadeja 2-24) lost to India 129 for 7 (Kohli 43, Jadeja 33*, Bopara 3-20) by 5 runs.

Pinch yourself several times. There was nothing realistic about this contest at all. Both teams became alarmed in the tense atmosphere when the ICC, who hadn’t thought it appropriate to have a reserve day for the final, extended the wet day by 75 minutes to make room for 20 overs.

The most expensive bowler, Ishant Sharma, was the first to bowl out and took two vital wickets in his final over; Ravi Bopara was England’s bowling demon; India defended 129 with slip, gully, and silly point for spinners; and MS Dhoni captained brilliantly to become the first captain in history to have won every ICC trophy.

The early fluidity of Shikhar Dhawan and Jonathan Trott, as well as the effectiveness of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, were the only things that made this game even somewhat serious. Everything went awry around them. The field became even, even with his great productivity. Jadeja failed to try a vital run-out, and the third umpire appeared to make a highly questionable decision on Ian Bell’s stumping, but Dhoni performed admirably when under duress.

Hours can be spent discussing it and wondering how it was accomplished. Ishant had been the simplest bowler to hit on this turner. You could have wondered why he even got a fourth over after his three overs had gone for 27. A six smoked clean by Bopara had reduced the aim to 48 off 30 in that third. But Dhoni moved to Ishant with three overs remaining and 28 to be scored—Umesh Yadav had two, Ashwin, Jadeja, and Bhuvneshwar one each.

Bhuvneshwar, at three overs for 19, had one more over, even if Yadav had been hurt. That decision could only have been made because England would have preferred to end the chase in Isant’s over rather than incur unnecessary danger.

But after a pulled six and two wides from either side of the stumps, Dhoni’s hunch appeared to be crumbling: 20 off 16 at this point. Ishant bowled a slower ball and Eoin Morgan mishit to midwicket; who knows how these things work with Dhoni in huge limited-overs matches? Morgan failed to identify a front-of-the-hand slower ball, which is pretty standard fare in today’s limited-overs cricket.

On its face, the next ball appeared even more harmless. Head high, cleanly pulled down, short ball with no sting, but straight to the square-leg fielder. But retract that dismissal. There was no midwicket for that ball, albeit it is hard to see the rationale in this. The man within the circle was standing next to the umpire at square leg. The replacement Joginder for Dhoni was Ishant Sharma.

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The strange happenings had not completely ended. Jadeja, who had been nearly unplayable and wise until to that point, had the opportunity to run the diving Stuart Broad out in the 19th over, but he decided not to. After bowling brilliantly throughout the tournament, scoring the crucial 33 when India was down 66 for 5, and starting India’s comeback with the ball, Jadeja could be forgiven for a minute. That was also India’s final error.

When Stuart Broad hit a leg-side four in the 20th over, bowled by Ashwin, Dhoni brought everyone to the wrong side, telling the batsman to clear it if he felt he was good enough. No, Broad wasn’t this time. Unexpectedly, Broad did not attempt to control the attack, allowing Tredwell to score ten off the final three balls.

The only way England could have won was if Broad had struck two fours or a six, but two balls later, on a turning pitch, the inferior hitter found the final ball’s six to be too much to handle. Given that Dhoni had experienced hardships over the previous two years, the final ball was the perfect occasion for an emotional celebration, even by his standards.

Although India had emerged victorious in an exciting tournament final, something was amiss. It was by no means the perfect fit. With the match postponed till 8.30pm, the ICC had merely attempted to cover its backside. Given the amount of rain Edgbaston had received, this match shouldn’t have been played today, but tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed.

As a result, the game forced both teams to step outside of their comfort zones. With three players who don’t make the T20 side, England was virtually playing a Twenty20 match, and the Indian batsmen were lacking rhythm when they came in and out. Recall that this was a 50-over game when the XIs were announced at the toss.

Nevertheless, India appeared to suffer more in the first exchange. They couldn’t possibly have planned their innings, being on the losing side of the toss and facing two rain delays in the opening half of their innings, and they soon found themselves having trouble scoring runs.

Bopara profited from the fear that was created by getting rid of Dhawan, Suresh Raina, and Dhoni, which was his first duck in an ODI since October 2010. Nevertheless, Virat Kohli and Jaydev Jadeja rallied India in the final seven overs with a potent partnership of 47 off 33. While Jadeja was able to see India through to the end, including an inside-out six off James Anderson, Kohli was unable to do so.

The England batters also panicked during the chase, for unknown reasons. Although Trott was fluid, spin was the difference maker. With a tight fifth over, Jadeja got things going, and in the following over, Ashwin stumped Trott with a sinking offbreak outside leg.

Even before Trott could hit the ball, Kohli was moving at backward short leg, but the umpire either missed it or didn’t think the movement was significant enough to declare the ball dead. Scenes would have been less savory if Trott had connected and Kohli had been there to catch it.

Another less-than-ideal play occurred in the next over. When the third umpire was unable to confirm that Bell’s foot was in the air at the time the wicket was put down, Bell was declared out stumped. England was really miffed. For the review, Eoin Morgan even made a sign.

Putting that behind him, Morgan and Bopara almost achieved a memorable victory with disciplined hitting and astute running between the wickets. However, that was prior to England collapsing, with four wickets conceded for three runs. You’ll have a hard time rationally explaining that Ishant over play that eliminated both Morgan and Bopara, even after seeing replays of it numerous times. There are moments when it’s just impossible to see. You have to pinch yourself from time to time.