New Delhi, Feb 19 (IANS): Dubbed as the miniature version of the World Cup, the eight-team ICC Champions Trophy is known for its tricky nature - a loss significantly impacts a team’s chances of reaching the semifinals and can even bring their campaign to a premature end.
Cut to the present and amidst the debate of 50-over format’s relevance, the Champions Trophy is back for the first time after 2017, with Pakistan hosting a global event after 29 years. India shapes up as favourites to win the title, even if Dubai hosts’ their semi-final clash and potentially the final.
Since the 2013 Champions Trophy, where Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja were on the winning team, India hasn’t won a 50-over global event. But they have a golden chance to win back-to-back ICC trophies.
In an exclusive conversation with IANS, Devang Gandhi - the former Indian player who was a member of the senior men’s selection committee from 2016/17 to 2020/21 - shared his insights on India’s chances in the Champions Trophy, Arshdeep Singh’s likely inclusion in the playing eleven, and the rationale behind the team selecting five spinners.
Excerpts:
Q. How do you analyse the make-up of India’s squad for this Champions Trophy?
A. I would definitely rate India as one of the favorites. If you look at the recently concluded series which we played against England, we really played well and winning against a good team like England, it does augur well for us.
Everybody is in form right from the openers to the middle order and bowling wise too. Plus, we have got a lot of depth and variety there, so all bases are covered. Even if you look at our batting, it goes till eight, so that’s a very good sign as the top order guys can play with a lot of freeness.
Q. Talking about that 3-0 series win over England, how big a relief was Rohit and Virat getting vital runs before leaving for Champions Trophy?
A. It does auger really well, especially considering it was very important that Rohit gets back amongst runs. It is going to not only help him, but the entire Indian team in Dubai. So now we actually look as a very formidable unit. Even Virat, when he was batting in Ahmedabad, he was looking for making big runs. Both these guys must be very hungry to perform and probably win one more ICC trophy.
Q. In terms of fast bowlers, with no Bumrah around, how much the onus will be on Shami, Hardik, Harshit and Arshdeep to rise to the occasion?
A. We will definitely miss Bumrah, but having said that, there is an opportunity for Arshdeep or Harshit to grab it with both hands. I think India will definitely start with Shami because he has a lot of experience and possesses the ability to take wickets up front. In my opinion, Arshdeep should partner with Shami purely because he brings that variety of being a left arm quick.
He’s tall, he’s got a little bit of experience of international cricket and is able to swing the ball in. So that makes him quite a good option to take wickets up front and even in the middle orders. We have seen that even in death overs, he has played so much of T20 cricket, so he can bowl those yorkers and slower balls.
Q. Quite a few eyebrows were raised when India picked five spinners for this competition. Did that take you by surprise, or is there a rationale for it?
A. The only logic that I feel is behind it is that there has been a lot of cricket played in Dubai. There were the league games (ILT20) played in Dubai. So keeping that in mind, the wickets might be a little knackered and tired, which means slower bowlers can play a big role. India’s most likely combination will be three fast bowlers, including Hardik, and three spinners - two left-arm spinners and a wrist spinner.
In case there is an injury to Kuldeep or Varun, then they can be replaced by either of them, as they are like-for-like replacements. At the moment, it does appear that travelling with five spinners is a luxury. But for whatever it seems that, we might need that extra spinner there, because India will definitely play with three spinners.
Q. In the series against England, Axar Patel came good as a number five batter, with KL Rahul pushed down to number six. But do you believe the number six position is a concern?
A. I don’t see it as a concern, as we have to understand why Axar was promoted at number five. Basically all top four batters in the Indian team are right handers. Then your fifth and sixth batters also would have been right handers, say if it was KL and Hardik.
So there’s no left hander in between, and just to see how Axar does there, they tried it in the first two games against England and he delivered. It’s just that they wanted to try a left-right handed combination. But going ahead, if at all they are thinking of fitting in a left-hander in between, my batting order would be Shubman, Rohit, Virat, and I would then ideally prefer Rishabh Pant at number four.
Five could be Shreyas, because Shreyas is also a very busy player. He gets on with the game, and he’s not a player who takes a lot of time to settle down. If you see Shreyas’ career, he’s been a very swift scorer of runs, and his strike rate has always been pretty high. So in that case, KL won’t find a place. Five will be Shreyas, six Hardik, seven or eight could be Jadeja or Axar. So then all that equation of fitting in a left-handed batter gets resolved.
Q. How do you see this Indian team adapting to Dubai’s slow pitches and adjusting to catching with the lights fixated on the stadium’s round roof?
A. I don’t think that the lights will be much of an issue because see, all these cricketers, they play so much of cricket, and it won’t be a matter of big adjustment for them. Even on the slow pitches, they will also adjust to it very well.
See, batting can be a little difficult on slow pitches, and if the surface is a little slow, the team has to decide what is a good or a par score. It’s because there can’t be a 300 par score on all sort of surfaces. On some pitches, which are extremely slow and not conducive to stroke play, then probably 250 is also a good score.
That is where you don’t try to reach 300. If the wicket is absolutely true, then anything above par score is minimum 300. It could also be 325 or 350 at times. But if the wicket is a little slower, then the target will definitely come down and the team has to adapt accordingly and play well.
Q. Who between Bangladesh, Pakistan, and New Zealand you believe is going to challenge Indian team the most?
A. See, the match against Pakistan definitely comes with its own challenges, as it’s a high pressure game. But my biggest worry would be New Zealand because they are an all-round side. A lot of people don’t give them a lot of limelight, but they are quite capable of making India work hard, and that will be a big match. In fact, I would say the toughest opponent for India would be, New Zealand, Pakistan, and then Bangladesh in that order.
Q. Should India go all the way to win the Champions Trophy, what would it signify about their preparedness for the 2027 ODI World Cup?
A. I’m sure the majority of these boys last played in the 2023 World Cup final and realised how close they were to winning it. In fact, right throughout the tournament, we dominated all the matches, except for the last one. So these guys must be really charged up this time and want to ensure that they’re bringing the trophy back home.
Plus, a lot of youngsters are also there, and they will definitely be there by the time 2027 ODI World Cup comes. Some of them in the team may or may not be there, but it will definitely set things in motion for the next 50-over World Cup.