Reliving Virat Kohli- The Captain

[NILAYSHAH60]

He is elevated to this level of ‘god like’ ability.

To be frank he is the most criticized player amongst Indian fans on this forum. There are way too many people in India who dislike him and actually troll him for his failures. There are different varieties of Indian fans as it is a Country of a billion people. And it's not possible for a billion people to have same or similar opinions. Picking unfavorable stats is not the way to judge a player.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Chapter 8- Getting back to form and Captaincy
​

After an average series in England, Virat Kohli was short on confidence and was struggling to find form.

In October 2014 when West Indies toured India it was expected that Kohli will find no troubles against them especially when he was playing at home. But the things turned out to be a bit different. The Carribean team was high on confidence and wanted to do well. Beating India in India is one of the most difficult things to do in the post 2010 era. And side will be proud to beat India in their own den.

In the first ODI of the series at Kochi, West Indies won the toss and elected to bat first on a sluggish pitch. Dwayne Smith and skipper Dwayne Bravo came out all guns blazing against the Indian bowlers and put on a quick fire 34 for the first wicket carrying forward their form which they had gained during the Champions League T20 playing for the Chennai Super Kings. The West Indies batsman continued their onslaught as Marlon Samuels scored 126 runs due to which West Indies piled up a very good score of 321/6. India though were expected to chase this total quite comfortably. They got off to a good start and scored 49 for the first wicket. In walked Virat Kohli who was expected to win this game for his side. But Jerome Taylor once again troubled Kohli with that 4th stump line which Kohli once again edged to slips and was dismissed on just 2(5). India were bowled out for 197 losing the match by 124 runs.

The second ODI of the series was going to be played at Delhi which was home ground of Virat Kohli. It was a golden opportunity for Kohli to find back his form because this was the pitch that he played all throughout his career before making it to the International side. Keeping his average form in mind Kohli was asked to bat at 4. After India were reduced to 50/2 in 11 overs in walked Kohli. He looked a little bit tentative in his footwork against the West Indies bowlers early in his innings. But he was able to find a couple of boundaries which brought back the flow in his batting. He again started to bat confidently and finally got to his half century and there was a big relief on his face. He got out trying to up the scoring rate in the end overs of the innings but unfortunately got out caught at long off on 62(78). India managed 263/7 and won the match comfortably by 48 runs.

The next match was a wash out. In the 4th ODI the West Indies players has decided to cancel the tour because of a dispute with their board but decided to play the match anyway. India were put in to bat first after losing the toss. India got off to a quick start scoring 70 off 11 overs. Virat Kohli came out to bat at 3 and continued the momentum and he eventually managed to score his 20th century in ODIs. India managed to score 330/6 and managed to win the match by 59 runs.

Later Sri Lanka toured India for a 5-match ODI series for which Dhoni was rested and Kohli was made the Captain.

The first ODI was played at Cuttack. Sri Lanka won the toss ans put India in to bat first. After getting off to a slow put steady start, India managed to accelerate quickly and scored 231 for the first wicket in just 35 overs. Both Dhawan and Rahane managed to score their hundreds. Kohli decided to send Raina at 3 to push the score further ahead. He didn't disappoint and scored a quick fire 50 and India put on 363/5. Kohli rotated his fast bowlers brilliantly and Sri Lanka were eventually bowled out for 194 as India went on to win by a massive margin of 169 runs.

In the next match at Ahmedabad, Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first. Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma were given new ball. Umesh Yadav dismissed Kusal Perera for a duck in the very first over. Slowly and steadily Sri Lanka were getting back their momentum. At the end of 9 overs Sri Lanka were 35/1. Ashwin was brought in as a first change bowler to which Dilshan went beserk and scored four boundaries in four deliveries. Kohli was quick to respond to it and gave Axar Patel the ball from the other end. Axar Patel dismissed Dilshan on the third delivery off the over ans Sri Lanka were reduced to 55/2 at the end of 11 overs. In came the most experienced duo of Sri Lanka. The Mahela-Sanga pair. Kohli set a field with long off, square leg and deep mid-wicket outside the 30-yard circle (the rules during that time allowed only 3 fielders outside the 30 yard Circle while 2 during both batting Powerplay phases). Within a couple of overs Jayarwedene attempted a flick which went straight into the hands of Ambati Rayudu at deep mid-wicket. Sri Lanka continued to play positively but lost wickets at regular interval. At one stage it looked Sri Lanka would get bowled out under 240. A fightback from Dhamika Prasad and a Captain's knock of 92 runs from Mathews took Sri Lanka to a fighting total of 274. India lost their first wicket early and in came Ambati Rayudu ahead of Kohli. Rayudu started off positively by consistently rotating the strike and hitting the odd boundaries and also did the job of seeing the new ball at the start of his innings. He put on 122 with Shikhar Dhawan and later put on 116 with skipper Kohli. In the process he scored his maiden ODI ton and was not out on 121 off 118 balls. India won the match comfortably by 6 wickets in hand and 33 balls to spare.

The next 2 matches were quite one-sided. In one of them Sri Lanka were dismissed cheaply on 242 riding on Jayawardene's 100 but Dhawan's knock of 91 made things quite easy for India to make a mockery of the chase. And in another, a world record knock of 264 from Rohit Sharma ended the match in the first innings itself while the 2nd innings was just a formality.

Kohli now had a chance to become the first Indian Captain and the first Captain in ODI history to whitewash Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka followed a similar pattern of scoring runs in the last match of the ODI series at Ranchi after they elected to bat first. A positive start and losing wickets in the middle overs and try to anchor the innings. But the end this time was a different one. Sri Lanka put in a spirited performance and scored 73 runs off the last 5 overs. Angelo Mathews also scored his maiden ODI ton scoring 139 not out which helped Sri Lanka to 286/8 in their 50 overs.

India this time started off slowly scoring just 34 runs in their 10 overs losing both Rahane and Rohit early in the innings. Rayudu and Kohli joined hands together and put on 136. India were soon in a spot of bother as they were reduced to 231/7 in 44 overs and required more than 9 runs per over. Kohli had held his end and unleashed himself at the perfect time. And took on Ajantha Mendis for a 20 run over. If anything was short on entertainment Kohli also gave the crowd the glimpse of their own town's celebrity MS Dhoni by playing a helicopter shot off Sekkugge Prassanna. Kohli himself scored a 139*(126) as India won by 3 wickets. This was his 21st ODI Century and his 2nd as Captain. The best part of Kohli's Captaincy in this series was consistent backing of youngsters like Ambati Rayudu and Axar Patel. His batting exploits weren't less either for which he was awarded the man of the series award. 2nd bilateral clean sweep under his belt as Captain!

Fun fact- In 2014 Sri Lanka tour of India, India lost the toss on all 5 occasions but won the match on each of those occasions. They also became the first team in ODI history to whitewash Sri Lanka.

 

[Yorkshireman]

I think Virat Kohli is decent. Not as good as some people make out though! Pretty overrated tbqfh.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

I think Virat Kohli is decent. Not as good as some people make out though! Pretty overrated tbqfh.

I think even Shoaib Akhtar used to bat better than Kohli

Tbh this thread isn't about Kohli the player but Kohli the Captain. So this sounds pretty irrelevant.

 

[Yorkshireman]

I think even Shoaib Akhtar used to bat better than Kohli

Tbh this thread isn't about Kohli the player but Kohli the Captain. So this sounds pretty irrelevant.

Yeh he’s pretty crap tbh.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Chapter9- Test Captaincy
​

India toured Australia in December 2014 for a 4-match Test Series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Later they were going to play a Tri-series in January 2015 followed by the World Cup in February. The 4 month long tour was scheduled to start on 4th December 2014 with the first Test being played at Brisbane but due to the death of Australian Cricketer Phillips Hughes caused from a brain-failure after being hit by a bouncer by Sean Abbott, the tour was postponed to 9th December and the series started at the Adelaide Oval.

MS Dhoni failed to recover from injury on time so Virat Kohli was handed the Captaincy for the First Test.

The first Test was meant to be an emotional occasion for the Aussies as this was the first Test which was played after the death of Phillip Hughes at a very young age of just 24 years. Australia won the toss and elected to bat first. Soon the young India bowlers were put under pressure as Australia scored runs at nearly 6 an over for the initial overs. Soon the things came under a little bit of control after the wicket of Chris Rogers. But Warner kept going for those occasional boundaries and soon reached his hundred. At 206/2, the Australian Captain Michael Clarke was having some issues with his back and with World Cup around the corner he decided to retire hurt. Soon after Warner got out as well. The Indian bowlers found some hope as they dismissed Marsh, Lyon and Haddin near the end of the day's play. At the end of day 1 Australia were 354/6.

It was expected that India would soon bundle out Australia but things changed drastically when Michael Clarke surprised everyone by coming in to bat once again. Both Steve Smith and skipper Michael Clarke took on the Indian bowlers and took the score past 500. Rain fall after tea ended the Day 2 earlier than scheduled. Australia declared overnight on 517/7. The Indian bowlers had the aggression but they lacked penetration to get through the defense of the Australian batsman was the reason why they conceded such huge runs. Kohli's decision to play Karn Sharma ahead of Ashwin also proved to be costly as Sharma conceded nearly 5 an over, he conceded 143 runs in 33 overs but he managed to pick up 2 wickets.

On Day 3, the Indian batsman came out all guns blazing and started off quite positively leaving behind the demons of 2014 England tour. They scored almost 4 an over throughout the Day. At 111/2 in came Kohli to the crease. After all that criticism that came after the England tour Kohli looked a completely different batsman. He carried the momentum of the run flow laid down by the openers and put on 81 for the 3rd wicket stand along with Cheteshwar Pujara who scored 73(135) and later 101 for the 4th wicket with Ajinkya Rahane who scored 64. Kohli also reached the three-figure mark in just 158 balls and went on to score 115 off 184 and took the score past the 350-run mark. He became the 8th player to score a hundred on Captaincy debut. This innings of Kohli was full of aggression, confidence, timing and precision. He took on the dangerous Mitchell Johnson and smashed him all around the park. India finished Day 3 on 367/5. They continued to bat on next day till they were bowled out on 444 giving Australia a lead of 72 runs which looked as if it could've been a lot more at the end of the Australian first innings.

Australia started in a similar fashion as they did in their first innings and scored 290/5 before rain ended the play early on Day 4. Just like Day 2, Australia declared overnight. This declaration was unexpected considering the pitch had absolutely flattened out and was a lot more easier to score runs on. But Australia had enough strength in their bowling to put the opposition under pressure even on a score that wasn't that big. And that is where the challenge was up for India.

Before the start of Day 5, it was decided that there would be 98 overs that would be played on Day 5. But Indian Captain Kohli had other ideas. Instead of playing out a draw he send his team to win. India once again started off very positively and scored runs very quickly. At 57/2 in came Kohli. He once again played in the same way that he played in the 1st innings. At one stage it looked like India would easily run away with the game but after the fall of Murali Vijay there began a sudden collapse. Kohli though kept playing confidently and ensured that the runs kept coming. He reached his 100 and became the 2nd player to score 100 in both innings of a Test on Captaincy debut. But he committed a mistake at this very moment. He was well set on 141 when he played a shot straight to deep mid-wicket where Mitchell Marsh took a brilliant catch to end a really promising innings from Kohli. But, Kohli couldn't have done anything apart from going for those big shots as he did not have anyone left after him to do the job after the wickets had fallen. India got bowled out on 315 to lose the match by 48 runs. Both India and Kohli were praised for the attitude with which they played on the last day against Australia on the Australian soil. It was one of the best matches that India had been a part of on Australian soil for a long time.

The next match was played at The Gabba in Brisbane. Steve Smith was handed over the Captaincy of Australia in absence of injured Michael Clarke. India won the toss and elected to bat first. Josh Hazelwood made his debut for Australia in this Test while MS Dhoni made a comeback from inury in the Indian team and took over the Captaincy. India scored 408 all out in their first innings with Kohli just contributing 19 runs as he struggled to accustom with the bounce of The Gabba pitch. At one stage it looked as if Australia would give a lead of more than 100 runs to India but a gritty knock from Steve Smith of 133(191) as he became the 9th player to score a Test hundred on Captaincy debut and some aggressive batting from Johnson and the rest of the lower order saw Australia put up 505 on the board. India started off rather slowly in their 2nd innings losing Murali Vijay early and Shikhar Dhawan left field due to some injury. Kohli did not trouble the scores for the 2nd time in the match as he made just 1. India were bowled out on 224 courtesy of a brilliant spell from Mitchell Johnson who took 4 wickets. Josh Hazelwood also bowled brilliantly throughout the match as he had figures of 7/142. Australia looked a bit sloppy with their batting effort chasing 126 but eventually managed to win it by 4 wickets. Steve Smith received man of the match.

India went to MCG for the Boxing Day Test. Australia won the toss and elected to bat first. They put on 530 this time as the stand-in Australian Captain Steve Smith scored 192(305). The frustration of Indian bowlers reached the peak when even Ryan Harris smashed 74 runs. India like right throughout the series started positively with the bat and scored 55 runs for the first wicket. But, were soon reduced to 147/3. Both Kohli and Rahane joined hands together a build on a solid partnership. There was a controversial moment that happened in between the innings as Johnson threw down the ball at Kohli who was into his shot charging down the wicket. The very next ball Kohli played a reckless shot but was put down by Chris Rogers. What transpired later was one of the greatest innings of Kohli outside the sub-continent and the Caribbean! He scored runs all throughout the ‘G’ and smashed boundaries to each part of the ground. He attacked all the bowlers and Johnson in particular scoring about 80 against Johnson only. Rahane played calmly and held the other end as he scored 147 and put on a massive partnership of 262 runs for the 4th wicket with Kohli. Kohli scored 167 and was dismissed at the end of Day 3. Indian lower order crumbled like a pack of cards as they lost 7 wickets for just 56 runs and were eventually bowled out on 465 giving Australia a lead of 65 runs. Warner attacked the Indian bowlers and took the lead past 100 runs. But soon after Indian bowlers were all over the Australian batting line-up as they lost half their side on 176 runs. Ashwin and Ishant Sharma kept things tight enough for Australian batsmen to not get any easy runs. Australia ended Day 4 on 261/7. Australia started off positively on Day 5 and made it past the 300-run mark. Shaun Marsh unfortunately got himself run-out on 99. Australia declard on 318/9. India were given a target of 383 in 76 overs. They started poorly with the bat as they were reduced to 14/3. It was once again Kohli and Rahane that scored crucial runs for India and also were able to see of some good number of overs. Kohli got to 50 just before Tea. India were on 104/3 at Tea. Right on the 2nd ball after Tea, Kohli was dismissed by Ryan Harris on 54 as he was caught at square leg. India somehow just managed to see off the remaining overs as they drew the 3rd Test giving a series victory to Australia. As a result of this match MS Dhoni decided to retire from Test with immediate effect as he felt it was right time for a new Captain to takeover the Captaincy of Indian Test Team. He stated that he would like to concentrate now more on the limited overs format as his body wasn't supporting him enough to continue in the longer formats. He suggested to make Kohli the Test Captain and said that he would continue to be India's Captain in the limited overs format.

India started off the 4th and the final Test of the series with newly appointed Captain Virat Kohli taking over the reigns. India made 4 changes to their playing XI dropping Pujara due to poor form and brought in Suresh Raina while Mitchell Johnson was rested by Australia for this match. Despite the poor performance in his debut Test Kohli backed KL Rahul and allowed him to open the innings in this match. Australia hammerred the Indian bowlers and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in particular because of his lack of fitness and pace in his bowling. Australia ended Day 1 at 348/2. Steve Smith reached his 4th Century in the series but was soon dismissed by Mohammed Shami. All the batsman in Australia's first 6 scored in excess of 50 with Smith and Warner scoring their centuries and Rogers being dismissed on 95. Ryan Harris played a cameo scoring 25 off just 9 balls. Australia declared on 572/7. Mohammed Shami took 5 wickets while Umesh Yadav conceded at more than 5 runs per over and proved to be the most expensive of the entire Indian bowling lot. India started off very cautiously as they managed to get 71/1 at the end of Day 2. Rohit Sharma was dismissed earlier on Day 3. Skipper Virat Kohli came in when India were 97/2. India did not look in any hurry as they stutterred at just a touch above 2 runs per over. KL Rahul soon got to his maiden Test hundred just in his 2nd Test playing for India. Later Kohli also got to his 10th Test Century and became the first Captain in the world to score 3 Test Centuries in the first 3 innings as Captain. He managed to score 147. India were bowled out on 475. Australia batted out the remaining overs in the Day and ended Day 4 at 251/6 scoring at 6.28 runs per over. They declared overnight setting India a target of 341 in 90 overs. Kohli scored yet another fifty and soon was dismissed. In last 12 overs of Day 5 India had just 3 wickets in hand. They managed to survive courtesy of Rahane and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Steve Smith amassed 769 runs runs in 8 innings at a terrific average of 128.16 as he was awarded the Man of the series. Kohli managed to score 692 runs in 8 innings at a very good average of 86.50. Australia took the series 2-0. But this series showed that Kohli still had a lot more work to do with this team as Captain.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Chapter 10: Tri Series and WC 2015
​

After the Test series in Australia got over it was time for the Tri-series between Australia, England and India. MS Dhoni made a comeback as Captain for India. After a brilliant performance in the Tri-series Kohli looked completely out of form. Australia beat England in the first match of the Tri-series at the SCG. The 2nd match was between India and Australia which was going to be played at the MCG. India won the toss and elected to bat first on a fresh pitch which had bounce and carry for the seamers but would soon deteriorate due to dryness. India were soon in a trouble as they were reduced to 33/2. Kohli batted as 4 in this match rather than his usual batting position in limited overs format which generally is no.3. After scoring 9 runs he top-edged a rising delivery from James Faulkner trying to play a pull shot and skied it to mid-off where stand-in Australian skipper George Bailey took an easy catch. Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina build an important partnership in the middle overs. Raina was dismissed on 51 while Rohit stuck right till the end as he scored his 6th ODI Century scoring 136 and took India to 267/8. At one stage India could've got to 300 but Mitchell Starc pulled things back as he got 6 wickets. Australia won a close match off the back off a 96 runs knock from Aaron Finch. It was a real struggle for India bowlers out there in the middle overs to keep things quite enough.

India moved to Brisbane for their 2nd match of the series at the Gabba to play against England. Yet another failure for Kohli as he managed just 4. India were bowled out on 153 with Stuart Binny playing a lone hand scoring 44. England won comprehensively by 9 wickets. Steven Finn got Man of the match for his 5 wicket haul. India's next match against Australia at the SCG got washed out.

Now India needed to beat England at Perth to get in to the Final of the Tri-series. Kohli moved back to no.3. India got off to a slow but a good start as they scored 83 for the first wicket. Kohli scored 8 runs before he tried to loft off-spinner Moeen Ali towards long-off and was caught in the deep by Joe Root. India got bowled out on 200 despite Rahane scoring 73(101). England lost half their side on 66 runs but inconsistent bowling from India brought them back in the match as England won by 3 wickets and made it to the Tri-series Final which they lost to Australia. Kohli's poor form became a worry for India regarding their WC performance.

In the World Cup warm-ups Kohli managed to score 18 against Australia and 5 against Afghanistan. India lost to Australia by 106 runs while they managed to beat Afghanistan by 153 runs as Rohit Sharma scored a 150.

India were playing Pakistan as their first WC match in 2015. After all the experiments with the batting line-up just before the WC India decided to send their usual opening pair of Rohit-Dhawan. They started off positively but lost Rohit at the score of 34 as he scored just 15. Kohli came in at 3, slowly and steadily he looked to build the innings with Shikhar Dhawan and they started hitting boundaries at will once they got their eyes in. Dhawan was run-out on 73 while Kohli scored his 2nd WC hundred, his second against Pakistan and his 22nd overall. India finished on 300/7 and won the match by 76 runs as Mohammad Shami took 4 wickets.

India's next match was against South Africa. They had never beaten South Africa in the WC. Rohit Sharma was run-out on duck. Once again Shikhar Dhawan and Kohli joined hands together and followed the same formula that worked against Pakistan of set and then go big template. Kohli pulled a short ball straight to mid-wicket as he got out on 46. Dhawan scored 137 and Rahane played a cameo of 87 runs. India scored 307/7. Indian fast bowlers ran through the Proteas batting line-up as South Africa were bowled out for 176. India won by 130 runs and beat South Africa for the first time in their WC history.

In the next couple of matches Kohli scored 33*(41) & 33(36) against UAE and West Indies respectively on the fast bouncy W.A.C.A wicket as India won by 9 wickets and 4 wickets chasing 104 & 183 respectively. Against Ireland at Seddon Park in Hamilton, New Zealand; India were to chase 260. They put on 174 for the first wicket. Rohit was dismissed on 64, Dhawan scored his 2nd WC hundred but soon got out. Kohli scored 44*(42) while Rahane scored 33*(28) as India won comprehensively by 8 wickets with 14 overs to spare. It seemed that India were peaking at the right time in the tournament with the form their batsman had brought in. Their bowlers were also in top-form picking all the wickets of all their opposition. But Zimbabwe had other ideas. Despite continuously losing wickets they kept their rate up. Bredan Taylor scored 137. But Zimbabwe were eventually bowled out for 287. India required 288 to win. After a slow start to their innings Indian batsman tried to up the ante. Perhaps a hint of over-confidence ? India were reduced to 71/3. Kohli got to another score of 30-odd and looked in decent touch but as bowled around his legs. India were in deep trouble at 92/4. Both Dhoni and Raina put on a huge partnership and ensured there were no further hiccups and won the match by 6 wickets. Raina scored 110* while Dhoni scored 85*.

In the Quarter-Final against Bangladesh, India were batting first. It looked like another collapse that was about to come. India were soon 115/3. Virat Kohli also poked at a Rubel Hossain delivery that was way away from his body to wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim as he was caught behind. It was Raina and Rohit Sharma got to the rebuilding phase and got India back in the game. Rohit Sharma scored his first WC century scoring 137(126). India scored 302/6. Umesh Yadav got 4 wickets in the Bangladesh innings are Bangladesh were bowled out on 193 as India won by 109 runs. Rohit Sharma got the Man of the Match award. India had now won all their matches including the Quarter-Final winning 7 matches back-to-back. The Indian bowlers took all 70 wickets of the opposition and were firm favourites to win the 2015 WC.

India faced the home team Australia in the Semi-Final at the SCG. Steve Smith scored 105(93) as Austalia scored 328/7. India got off to a good start as they scored 76 for the first wicket in just 12 overs before Dhawan got out. India lost Kohli soon after on 1(13) as he tried to pull a short-ball from Mitchell Johnson out of the park, the ball went up high in the air as Brad Haddin took an easy catch. It was a poor shot from a player like Kohli who is so good in run-chases for India. It seemed that pressure of expectations and winning the WC got over him due to which he tried to enforce things and he got out. India were bowled out on 233 and lost the match by 95 runs which ended their WC campaign. Australia went on to win the WC giving a farwell to their 2014 Ashes legends Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson.

Kohli Captained RCB in 2015 IPL. His inconsistent form continued over there but still managed 505 runs in 16 matches at an astonishing average of 45.90 and strike rate of 130.82 finishing as the fifth leading run getter in the tournament. RCB made it to the top 4 and reached the Qualifier 2 but failed to make it to the Finals as they were beaten by 2-time Champions CSK.

India toured Bangladesh for a One-off Test and 3 ODIs. In the One-off Test India batted first as they managed to score 462/6 dec. Bangladesh were bowled out for 252 and were asked to follow-on and were 23/0. It was a match where 12 out of 15 sessions were washed out due to rain !!!

In the 3-match ODI series Kohli scored 49 runs in 3 innings at a poor average of 16.33 with a highest score of just a meagre 25 !!! Left arm medium pacer Mustafizur Rahman took 13 wickets in just 3 matches. India were miserable throughout the series with the bat as they lost the ODI series to Bangladesh the first time in their history. They managed to save pride in their last match where they scored 317/8 and beat Bangladesh by 77 runs. This run-drought of Virat Kohli was seriously hurting India now.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Chapter 11: Getting back to form​

In August 2015, India were to tour Sri Lanka for a 3-match Test series. India had never won a Test series in Sri Lanka before. This series was meant to be Kumar Sangakkara's last series in International arena so it worked as a motivating factor for the Sri Lankan side. Also India hadn't won a Test series away from home since June 2011. So the odd were heavily stacked India to win this series. In the first Test at Galle, Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first. Kohli gave the new ball to Ishant Sharma and Varun Aaron. But of them got the ball to seam around on a good batting surface. Varun Aaron soon induced and outside edge only for Dhawan to drop it. Ishant Sharma also bowled a no-ball in the next over. But both Sharma and Aaron kept the pressure on the Lankan batsman. Ishant soon got Dimuth Karunaratne. Later Aaron as well got Kaushal Silva. At 15/2 in walked Kumar Sangakkara. Seeing both left hand batsman (Lahiru Thirimanne and Sangakkara) on the crease Kohli brought in Ashwin and it soon paid dividend as Ashwin got Sangakkara caught at silly point. Very soon there were spinners brought in from both ends to put pressure on Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka lost half their side on the score of 61. Soon after Lankans started counter-attack and somehow got their score 179/7. Amit Mishra struck twice in 2 balls and an over later Ashwin got the final wicket taking 6/46 dismissing Sri Lanka an hour after lunch on just 183. India lost KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma early and were reduced to 28/2. With Kohli and Dhawan at the crease, both played a little cautiously but once they got the partnership going they soon started hitting boundaries to all corners of the ground. Kohli soon reached his 100 (his 4th as Captain in just 6 innings). Dhawan also scored 134. Both Dhawan and Kohli put on a 227-run stand for the 3rd wicket. Saha also contributed 60 batting at 7. India scored 375 with a first innings lead of 192 runs. Sri Lanka once again lost half their side at the score of 95 and an innings victory for India was possible. But it was not to be as Dinesh Chandimal played a breath-taking knock of 162*(169). This quick fire knock consisted of 19 fours and 4 sixes including a reverse sweep off Ashwin over point for a big six. Such was his dominance. He left the Indian bowlers and Kohli amused. India needed 175 runs to win on a deteriorating surface. KL Rahul was dismissed early. Ishant Sharma came in as a night watchman and he along with Dhawan were able to see off their overs. Next day there began an incredible collapse as India were bowled out on 112 with Rahane being the top scorer scoring 36. Herath took 7/48 as India lost the match by 63. Yet another series away from home was getting out of India's grasp now.

The 2nd test was going to be played at the P Sara Oval in Colombo which was meant to be Sangakkara's last match. India won the toss and elected to bat first. It looked they made a mistake in doing so as Vijay was dismissed by an incoming delivery from Dhamika Prasad on a duck while Rahane poked at a ball that was far from his body at the score of 4. India were 12/2. KL Rahul looked a lot more positive in his approach than the first Test and he was joined by Virat Kohli. They put on a 162-run stand for the 3rd wicket before Kohli was dismissed off an inside edge caught a short-leg off Herath's bowling by Matthews on 78. KL Rahul soon got to his hundred but after the he went for a pull off top-edging a wide-bouncer from Chameera to get caught by Chandimal on 108. India were 231/4 now. Rohit Sharma played a knock out of the ordinary by grinding himself in and scoring 79 runs before he planted his leg outside the off-stump to play an on-drive off Angelo Matthews. The ball missed his bat and struck him in line with the leg-stump. India finished the day on 319/6. The got the score to 393 courtesy Wriddhiman Saha's 56. Sri Lanka started their innings after Lunch on Day 2. Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav shared the new ball with aggressive fields in place. Umesh Yadav got a wicket on thr first ball of his spell dismissing Dimuth Karunaratne for 1. Stuart Binny was brought in as a first change bowler with 2 slips- the second one being wider. Binny had Kaushal Silva caught in the slips only for it to be called as a no-ball. Ashwin was brought in from the other end. Sangakkara was dropped by Rahane in the slips off Ashwin's bowling which was a difficult opportunity as the ball was swirling away from him. 10 overs later Ashwin created yet another opportunity and this time Sangakkara was dismissed on 32(87). Sri Lanka continued to bat well before Kaushal Silva was dismissed by Mishra on 51(201). Sri Lanka collapsed from 241/3 to 306 all out. It was a display of skill and patience by the Indian bowlers along with the discipline they showed kept thr pressure on Sri Lanka. India scored 325/8 dec. in their 2nd innings with Rahane scoring a 100 and Vijay 86. Sri Lanka went on to lose by 258 runs as they were bowled out for 134 with Ashwin taking 5/42. India levelled the series 1-1. India went on to win the match at SSC in Colombo by 112 runs. Kohli became the first Indian Captain to beat Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka.

South Africa were touring India for 3 T20Is, 5 ODIs and 3 Tests. Kohli was surrounded by a massive criticism by his own Country for having the relationship with a Bollywood actor (Anushka Sharma) and people in India seem to blame her for Kohli's failure every now and then. On top of it Kohli was having issues with his form. The pressure was immense for him to perform.

India played South Africa at Dharamsala for the first T20I of the series. South Africa won the toss and put India in to bat first considering India didn't have a good record batting first. Rohit Sharma started off in a blazing fashion and was up and running from the first ball finding a boundary or 2 every over. Dhawan was run-out at the other end. In walked Kohli at 22/1. As Rohit was taking on the bowlers at the other end Kohli got time to settle in. After Kohli got set he hit a couple of sixes and few boundaries but wasn't able to convert his start into a big score as he got out on 43(27) trying to enforce the scoring rate at the death against Kyle Abbot as he was caught in the deep pulling a short ball. India finished a bit slowly as they got to 199/5 on a very flat pitch with fast outfield. Kohli put on 138 runs for the 2nd wicket with Rohit Sharma who scored 106(66). South Africa did not face much difficulties chasing the score as they won by 7 wickets with 3 balls to spare courtesy of a quick-fire start by AB de Villiers at the top who scored 51(32) and a very good knock from JP Duminy who scored 68*(34).

India got bowled out on 92 in the 2nd T20I at Cuttack which South Africa chased down very easily as they won by 6 wickets with 17 balls to spare. Duminy scored 34*(39). The 3rd T20I got washed out as South Africa won the series 2-0. JP Duminy was awarded man of the series.

The First match of the ODI series was played at Kanpur. South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first. Ashwin got injured while fielding off his own bowling. AB de Villiers scored 104*(73) to take South Africa to 303/5. India started off well. At 42/1 India send in Ajinkya Rahane as they wanted to bat Kohli at no.4 to find a reliable batsman at that position. Both Rohit and Rahane took India to 191/2. In walked Kohli and he struggled to get going as he was dismissed on 11 off 18 by Steyn as he was caught at fine-leg on the edge of the 30-yard circle. Soon after Rohit Sharma got dismissed on 150 by Imran Tahir. India required 14 off the last over. Dhoni and Binny failed to hit those runs as India lost by 5 runs.

The second ODI was played at Indore. India won the toss and elected to bat first on a dry pitch. India lost Rohit Sharma early on just 3. Dhawan and Rahane got together and put on 56 for the 2nd wicket before Dhawan got out. Virat Kohli got run-out on 12 and seemed to bat with a sort of discomfort at 4. Dhoni scored much needed runs as he scored 92*(86) while Rahane also scored 51(63). India finished on a fighting total of 247/9. South Africa were well on course to a 2-0 lead but the Indian bowlers fought back. Kohli also took couple of stunning catches to dismiss De Villiers and Steyn. South Africa were bowled out for 225 as India won by 22 runs.

The series moved to Rajkot where South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first. They send out of form David Miller to open alongside De Kock. They put on 72 for the first wicket before Miller was out. Amla followed soon after. Du Plessis and De Kock got going as they put on 118. De Kock scored 103, Du Plessis 60 and a good finish from Behardien who scored 33*(36) took the Proteas to 270/7. India lost Dhawan early. Kohli moved back to no.3 and he looked a lot more confident this time. Rohit Sharma got out on 65. Both Kohli and Dhoni put on 80 but in 114 balls. Dhoni got out on 47. The required run-rate was nearly 16 so Kohli needed to find boundaries with wickets falling at the other end in the process he got out on 77(99). India lost the match by 18 runs as the Proteas took 2-1 lead.

The 4th match was being played at Chepauk. It was quite humid out there with the temperature touching 35°C with 55% humidity. India won the toss and elected to bat first. Rohit and Dhawan got dismissed early as India were reeling in the heat at 35/2. Kohli and Rahane got together and scored 103 for the 3rd wicket. Kohli got his 50 off just 51 balls. The heat was hard to sustain due to which Kohli lost energy while running between the wickets and top of it he started having cramps. He still tried to bat out as long as he was there as he scored some occassional boundaries and few sixes. He got to his 100 off 112 balls and started to shift gears. He put on 127 with Raina for the 5th wicket. Kohli got out on 138(140) and received a standing ovation from the opposition and the crowd for the commitment with which he played. India won the match by 35 runs but De Villiers ensured that he got to his 2nd hundred of the series. Kohli finally regained his form and received s support from the team management to bat at 3 in coming matches.

In the 5th ODI at Mumbai India had a forgetable day as the Proteas scored 434/4 and hitting Bhuvneshwar Kumar for 107 runs in his 10 overs. India lost their big guns early in Rohit and Kohli as they did no have any choice but to go for the big shots. Rahane and Dhawan started scoring runs really quickly at more than 10 runs per over. But after a 150+ partnership they both got dismissed and a collapse followed. South Africa won by 214 runs making a history of winning the ODI series in India for the first time.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Chapter 12: Back to Test Cricket
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After the end of the limited overs series India would now be playing the Test series against South Africa. What does that mean now ? It means Kohli is back to lead India. India were a bit under pressure to perform in the Test series. Being a 7th ranked Test side playing against the No.1 side in the world which was none other than South Africa. That South African team which had dominated the Test arena with a number of Overseas wins. On top of that they won the T20I series 2-0 and the ODI series 3-2. So the confidence of the Proteas was at peak and they were in red hot form.

The first Test was at Mohali. India won the toss and elected to bat first. India lost Dhawan early but both Vijay and Pujara spend some time out there in the middle and then tried to get some runs later in their innings. Just when it was felt India had completely recovered from Dhawan's early dismissal South Africa struck back with the wicket of Pujara on 31 and Kohli on 1 as they were reduced to 65/3. Seeing the spin in the pitch the South African Captain Hashim Amla tried to play a gamble by giving the ball to Dean Elgar. Elgar's part-time spin troubled India as they lost 4 wickets to him and they were soon 154/7. It looked like South Africa would wrap up things pretty quickly with some very disciplined bowling from their bowlers. Both Jadeja and Ashwin build a crucial 42 run partnership to take India close to the 200 run-mark. They were soon bowled out on 201. Dean Elgar took 4/22 off his 8 overs while Philander also bowled a long spell to get 2/36 off 15 overs. Murali Vijay was the top scorer for India who scored 75 runs. Kohli's decision to bat first was proving pretty costly for India.

When South Africa came out to bat Kohli made a bold decision to give the new ball to Ashwin. Ashwin bowled a maiden to start off the proceedings. Umesh Yadav also showed some control from the other hand. South Africa looked a bit uncomfortable as they did not have much clue about how much the ball was turning and were constantly getting beaten by Ashwin's variations. Stiaan Van Zyl tried to play for the turn as he left the ball but the ball skidded through and hit the off-stump as Ashwin got a wicket. In walked Du Plessis ahead of skipper Hashim Amla. As Du Plessis is a very good player of conventional off-spin Kohli brought Jadeja in the attack just to try something different. Jadeja dismissed Du Plessis on the 2nd ball of his first over which was similar to Van Zyl's dismissal. Amla and Dean Elgar were able to see off the remaining overs in the Day. They finished Day 1 on 28/2 trailing India by 181 runs. South Africa started positively on Day 2 and were facing it easier to score runs on. They started scoring boundaries almost every over. Elgar somehow played a poor shot all of a sudden throwing his wicket to Ashwin after he had scored 37(123). Amla and De Villiers joined hands together and kept the momentum flowing towards their way. Kohli was rotating all his bowlers to keep the pair guessing. 3 overs before Lunch Ashwin made a double strike dismissing Amla and Dane Vilas respectively. South Africa scored 98 runs in the first session of Day 2 but they lost 3 wickets as they went in for Lunch on the score of 126/5. The Indian spinners kept things tight throughout the day as South Africa were bowled of for 184 trailing India by 17 runs. Ashwin got 5/51 as he became the fastest Indian bowler to 150 Test wickets and the 4th fastest overall. AB de Villiers scored 63.

India looked good to give a big target for South Africa to chase in their 2nd innings but they soon collapsed from 161/2 to 200 all out. 8 wickets for just 39 runs !!!! South Africa looked clueless in their 2nd innings as they were bowled out for a mere 109 chasing 217. This time it was Jadeja who took 5 wickets as he got figures of 5/21 off 11.5 overs. Ashwin also took 3/39 off his 14 overs. Jadeja was awarded Man of the match for his all-round performance throughout the match as India got a 1-0 lead. Kohli was a happy man as he and his team somehow escaped a defeat.

The 2nd Test was going to be played at Bengaluru. India won the toss and this time elected to field first. The South African batting followed a similar script as they got bowled out for 214. De Villiers once again scored 85 in this match which was meant to be his 100th Test. Jadeja got 4/51 off his 16 overs. India finished Day 1 on 80/0. Persistent rain for next 4 Days meant that the match ended as a draw.

The third Test was to be played at Nagpur. India won the toss and elected to bat first on a very dry pitch which hardly had any moisture. India started off really well scoring 50/0 in 13 overs. But the pitch soon started showing its true colours as the odd ball kept low and kept troubling the Indian batsman. They were soon 125/6. The lower order once again came to India's rescue as India got to 215 all out. It was always going to be tough to take a big lead on that pitch but South Africa still had a lot of fire power in their batting. But within a fraction of minutes South Africa were 11/2. They continued to lose wickets on Day 2 as they were bowled out on a a paltry 79 with Ashwin and Jadeja sharing 9 wickets and bowling the majority of overs. India just survived 3 hours as they too got bowled for for 173 courtesy of 5 wickets by Imran Tahir. But South Africa had to get 317 on a track that had deteriorated way too much. A partnership of 72 runs between Amla and Du Plessis just delayed an Indian victory as they got bowled out on 185 losing the match by 124 runs losing 7 wickets to Ashwin giving India an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the 4-match series.

From Nagpur the sides moved to Delhi for the Final Test. India won yet another toss and once again elected to bat first. India had already won the series while South Africa were playing for their pride. Once again an India collapse followed as they were reduced to 198/7. Rahane and Ashwin build a crucial 98 run partnership as Rahane got out after scoring 127 runs as he became the first player in the series to get a hundred. Ashwin also scored 56 runs. India scored 334 all out. South Africa got bowled out at the end of the Day on just 121! India started their 2nd innings on Day 3. They were soon in a spot of bother at 57/4. But this time Kohli and Rahane joined hands as Kohli went on to score 88 and Rahane scored his 2nd hundred of the Test match scoring hundred in both innings. India declared on 267/5. South Africa had to chase 434. They had no other option but to see off the remaining overs in the match. A gritty South African innings followed. They scored less than a run per over as it was an innings where South Africa did nothing but defence. It looked at one stage that they would be successful in drawing the match but India kept calm and bowled the Proteas out for 143 in 143.1 overs. India won the series 3-0. Ashwin got Man of the series for taking 31 wickets in 7 innings. Kohli's era as a Test Captain had now begun. India showed dominance throughout the series and were able to find answers to their questions regarding their Test side. They were on their way to their renaissance in Test Cricket now.

Kohli said the following after the Delhi Test in the post match conference

All the wins were special, but this one because we had to work harder, the South African batsmen put their head down and played for the draw, always hard work. I just asked the bowlers to put their hands up and that's what happened after tea ... That really depends on how much energy the team is showing, standing on my own I can't do anything, all 11 guys deserve the credit ... we were surprised with how they were defending, their approach ... the bowlers did not lose patience .. they can be really proud of their effort today. We have bowlers who have the pace it is important to back them on any surface ... it is important to give them confidence at the right times and they have to respond as well. I just want to thank the crowd, it has been tremendous playing in front of a packed stadium.

Ashwin who received the Man of the Series said

I think it is a great feeling, a fitting finale to a wonderful series, we were going for it, we fought really hard, they dug in really deep ... generally all these black soil wickets .. there's not much bounce .., massive support from Jadeja, he hits the stumps so often, amazing support from me, and let's not forget Umesh

The Indian Vice-captain said the following about his twin centuries in the match

Really happy for myself and my team. I always like to improve my game, my cricketing skills, believe in my process because the results will follow.

Speaking to Star Sports, Shikhar Dhawan said...

We had to work really hard and our bowlers did a great job. they batted very well but we kept our discipline, tremendous and amazing. When they were playing well it felt like maybe a draw but we knew that one or two wickets would create a low of pressure ... amazing reverse swing from Umesh. Lovely to see ... Ashwin and Jadeja have been tremendous whole series, I would like to congratulate them.

As a result of this match India became the no.2 Test side in the world.

Source for the quotes- ESPN Cricinfo

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Chapter 13- First Overseas Assignment


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After a tough season at home, India now had their first Overseas assignment under the reigns of Virat Kohli. Coming into this series Virat Kohli was in a rich vein of form winning Man of the series in 3-match T20I series in Australia, Man of the tournament in 2016 T20I Asia Cup and also Man of the tournament in 2016 WT20. He also scored close to 1,000 runs in IPL taking RCB into Final that season. But this was about Test Cricket that too in Overseas conditions. Test Cricket is a different ball game and it requires grit and patience to survive. The Captaincy comes as an added pressure. On top of it India had never won an Overseas Test series since 2011. Although the last series they won was in the Caribbean island itself and this West Indies side were going through a recovery phase so they did not have much of an advantage either.

The first Test was to be played at Antigua which was actually the home ground of one of the greatest player to have played the game none other than Sir Vivian Richards. The stadium itself was named after Sir Vivian Richards. India won the toss and elected to bat first on pitch that had a slightly inconsistent bounce but was good enough for a big score to be made in the first innings. India got off to a decent start but they lost Murali Vijay early on 7. Dhawan and Pujara batted patiently till Lunch on Day 1 with the score being 72/1. Just after lunch Shikhar Dhawan made his half-century off 84 balls. Couple of overs later India lost Pujara on the score of 16 trying to pull a short delivery by leg-spinner Bishop towards mid-wicket. In the process he got a leading edge and was caught by the fielder at Cover. Kohli and Dhawan batted close to Tea before Dhawan lost his wicket to Bishoo lbw for 84. Kohli and Rahane resumed after Tea at the score of 179/3. Kohli reached his 100 scoring at a strike rate of 74.63 which was a sign of dominance. Rahane were dismissed for 22 with India being reduced to 236/4. India surprised everyone by promoting Ashwin to number 6. Both Kohli and Ashwin put together a big partnership. India scored 304/4 at Stumps on Day 1. Kohli continued to bat well on Day 2 scoring his first ever double hundred in Test Cricket surpassing his previous best score of 167 which he scored against Australia at MCG in 2014. India's coach Anil Kumble made sure that he captured this moment through his camera. Ashwin too scored his 3rd Test Century (all 3 against West Indies) which was his first away from home. India scored 566/8 declare. West Indies scored 31/1 at stumps on Day 2. What followed on Day 3 was a hostile spell of fast bowling by the Indians which was a rare sight considering that India struggled to have good fast bowlers throughout their history. West Indies were bounced out by the Indian fast bowlers for a meagre 243. Umesh Yadav and Shami took 4 wickets each while Amit Mishra took the remaining 2 wickets. Ashwin also bowled an economical spell causing more trouble to the West Indies team. India enforced the follow on. The pitch had started to turn more to which Ashwin took the entire advantage and took 7 wickets in the innings. This was one of the best spell of bowling by an Asian spinner in the West Indies. West Indies got bowled out for 231 and lost the match by an innings and 92 runs which was India's best ever victory outside Asia.

On Kohli's double hundred Sir Viv Richards gave out a special appreciation

I think it was a magnificent hundred and to score a double at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, it was a formidable task to achieve. I remember when I met him, I did say good luck but I didn't believe he would take it this far... Even though it was against the West Indies, I do appreciate seeing class and it was a pretty classy knock... It's very special, those who weren't here today would have missed something. But I saw it and I am happy to say that I had a very good seat in the house.

Source for the quote- India Today dated 23rd July, 2016.

In the 2nd Test at Jamaica, West Indies won the toss and elected to bat first with an hope to repeat what India did at Antigua which was to put a good score on the board and put the Indian batting under pressure. The hope were soon shattered as the Indian pacers got the top order of the West Indies having them reduced to 7/3. It seemed like the fast bowlers had carried their performance from Antigua to Jamaica. The middle order and lower order was hunted by Ashwin as he took a 5-wicket haul in consecutive innings. Jermaine Blackwood was the only player who had shown some resistance by scoring a run-a-ball 62. West Indies were bowled out for 196. For India it was KL Rahul who took on the West Indies bowling from the word go as he scored 158 off 303 balls. Each of the Indian batsman got off to a good start but only Rahane converted his score into a century scoring 108*. India lost wickets at regular intervals and they finally declared their innings on 500/9 just before Tea on Day 3. The rest of the day got washed out due to rain. Not even a session's play was possible on Day 4 but India managed to reduce West Indies to 48/4. It was easy to assume that India had a very good chance to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the 4-match series. But that was not to be. The rain had dampened the outfield and it became very difficult to grip the ball. Roston Chase showed a great resilience as he scored 137 not out. And was well supported by Blackwood 63, Dowrich 74 & Holder 64. India managed to take only 2 wickets on Day 5. Match ended in a Draw.

The third Test was played at St Lucia. The things suddenly seemed to have changed all of a sudden now. India made some surprising changes they dropped Pujara, Umesh Yadav and Amit Mishra for Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. West Indies brought in a 19-year old debutant in pace bowler Alzarri Joseph. Joseph had India in all sorts of trouble as he dismissed India skipper Kohli for just 3. KL Rahul played well until he was deceived by Roston Chase for 50. India were reduced to 126/5. Ashwin and Saha joined hand together to get India out of the misery. Ashwin scored his 4th Test century as he scored 118. Saha scored his maiden Test hundred as he scored 104. India managed to score 353. From the position they were in 353 seemed to be a very good recovery. The decision to play Bhuvi was proving to be right as he took 5 wickets for 33 runs. West Indies were bowled out for 225. India were once again put under pressure with the lead just being 198 they were reduced to 72/3. Rahane and Rohit put together a 85 run partnership. Rahane went on to score 78 while Rohit scored 41. India declared on 217/7. A combined bowling effort from India helped bowl out West Indies for 108. India won by 237 runs and won their first series outside Asia since 2011 and became the number 1 Test side in the world.

But India had to win their last match to retain it or else they would lose their number 1 rank to arch-rivals Pakistan. The last match was abandoned due to wet outfield. It rained for more than 2 sessions on Day 1 post lucnh. It was frustrating for India as there no rain on remaining 4 days with bright sunny skies. Pakistan as a result of this match become number 1 side and they were as deserving as India since they had drawn level their series in England.

Although it was a victory against the West Indies but it did bring many positives for India. The most pleasing of all was the performance of their pacers. It was a dream series for Indian pacers as they were completely over the opposition and troubled them throughout the series.

And this was a very good start under the new Head Coach Anil Kumble. India were really pleased to have him on that position. But what followed wasn't expected to happen.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Chapter 14: The Long Home season
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After winning the series in the West Indies, India had a long home season infront of them. They had to play about 13 Tests, 8 ODIs and 3 T20Is before Champions Trophy which was to be played in England in June 2017.

New Zealand series
The season began with a 3-match Test series against New Zealand. The first Test was played at Kanpur. The Green Park in Kanpur was hosting a Test match for the first time. India won the toss and elected to bat first. India got off to a quick fire start and were hitting boundaries at will. They scored close to 4 runs per over. But New Zealand struck back with the wicket of KL Rahul who was caught behind for 32 off left arm spinner Mitchell Santner's bowling. New Zealand for the rest of the session bowled defensive line and length and restricted the quick flow of runs. India were 105/1 at Lunch on Day 1. Vijay and Pujara put on 112 for the 2nd wicket. Pujara 62 and Vijay 65 were dismissed in quick succession by Santner and Sodhi respectively. All of a sudden the floodgates had opened up and India from 154/1 collapsed to 209/5. Ashwin and Rohit put together a 52 run partnership before Rohit was dismissed for 35 and Ashwin for 40. The lower order did not show much of resistance and India were bowled out on 318 few overs after the start of Day 2. New Zealand began cautiously before Guptil was dismissed for 21. At 35/1 in walked New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson. Williamson and Latham took New Zealand to a position where they looked good to get a big lead. Suddenly there was a rainfall after Tea on Day 2 and no further play was possible for the Day. On Day 3, after putting on a 124-run partnership Williamson was dismissed on 75 and Latham on 58. Due to the rain interruption New Zealand just lost their momentum and they lost wickets at regular intervals to get dismissed for 262 giving India a 54 run lead for the first innings. Ashwin and Jadeja shared 9 wickets between them with Jadeja taking a 5 wicket haul and Ashwin taking 4 wickets while the remaining wicket was taken by Umesh Yadav. Shami bowled an economical spell while Murali Vijay and Rohit Sharma shared 5 overs between them for 15 runs. In the 2nd innings, each of the batsman contributed for India apart from Kohli who was dismissed was 18 probably trying too hard to score runs. Perhaps, it was the pressure of Captaincy ? India managed to score 377/5 declare. In the later stages of the Indian innings Jadeja scored a quick-fire 50 and entertained the crowd with his usual sword celebration. New Zealand looked clueless against quality spin from Ashwin. They were reduced to 56/4. Luke Ronchi scored 80 runs while Santner showed a very good resistance as he scored 71 runs off 179 balls !! New Zealand were bowled out for 236 and lost the match by 197 runs. Ashwin took 6 wickets and became the fastest bowler to 200 Test wickets.

The 2nd Test was played at the iconic Eden Gardens. The Eden Gardens had a new looked pitch and looked to be a conducive wicket for fast bowlers which was actually unexpected. Thanks to then President of CAB Sourav Ganguly who encouraged the development of such a pitch. Eden Gardens now had a bell just like the Home of Cricket Lord's and it was rang by Ganguly before the start of the Day's play. New Zealand were dealt with a blow before the match began as Kane Williamson got injured in the last match and was replaced by Ross Taylor who was back as Captain after he had left it during 2013. India once again won the toss and elected to bat first. This time India were right away put in trouble by Boult and Henry as they were all of a sudden 46/3. Pujara and Rahane put on a 141 run partnership with Pujara 87 and Rahane 77. Rohit Sharma did not survive for long as he was dismissed for just 2. Some lower order resistance from Saha and Ashwin and a cameo from Mohammed Shami took India to 316 all out which was 2 runs less than what they scored at Green Park. New Zealand never really looked comfortable as they were dismissed for 204 all out with only Jeetan Patel scoring a run a ball 47 while rest just got set and we're dismissed. Bhuvi managed to take 5/48 while Shami 3/70, a wicket each for Jadeja and Ashwin. India were once again put in trouble by the seaming deliveries and were 106/6. Henry once again with 3 wickets and a couple for Boult. It looked India would give a target of less than 300 for New Zealand to chase with still more than 2 days left in the match. Rohit Sharma scored 82 while Saha scored 54 taking India to 263 all out. Henry took 3/59 while Boult 3/38. New Zealand kept losing wickets throughout the innings and were bowled out for 197. Only Latham managed to scored 76. Ashwin and Jadeja shared 6 wickets between them. Shami took 3 wickets while Bhuvi as well with a wicket. New Zealand lost by 179 runs. Saha got Man of the Match. India regained the number 1 Test ranking.

India added another new venue for Test Cricket with Holkar Stadium of Indore hosting it's first ever Test match. Kane Williamson was back as New Zealand's Captain. India brought back veteran opener Gautam Gambhir for injured KL Rahul. It was a very good chance for Gambhir to make his comeback in the Indian side and retain his position back in the team. Gambhir got off to to a quick fire start hitting a couple of sixes towards the 58 meter fine leg boundary of Henry's bowling. Although the usual Gambhir dismissal off a delivery angled into his pads and Gambhir trying to slog it followed after the good start that he got. At 60/2 in walked Virat Kohli who had struggled for runs a bit in the series. Pujara soon got dismissed for 41. What followed was a big partnership of Kohli and Rahane who put together 365 runs for the 4th wicket which is an Indian record in Test Cricket. Kohli got to second his double hundred in Test Cricket during this partnership. Rahane nearly made it to his double hundred but was dismissed was 188 by Trent Boult caught behind by BJ Watling. India declared on 557/5. New Zealand started off well but soon were 148/5. Neesham played a cameo with the lower ofer to take New Zealand to 299 all out. India did not enforce the follow on. This time Gambhir managed to score a 50. Pujara scored a hundred. India declared on 216/3. New Zealand were bowled out for 153. Ashwin took 7 wickets. India won the series 3-0. Ashwin won Man of the match and also Man of the series.

India won the ODI series 3-2. Kohli received Man of the series for scoring 358 runs (the most by any batsman in Ind-NZ bilaterals in ODIs) in 5 matches at an average of 119.53. He scored 2 fifties and a 154*. India won the last match of the series by 190 runs with Amit Mishra taking 5/18. New Zealand were bowled out for 79.

England series

After New Zealand series it was time to play against the English side. This was meant to be a 5-match Test series. Ideally England was the toughest opponent to play against India since they were the only side in the last decade to win a Test series in India. The last time they played in India they had won the 4-match series 2-1. Alastair Cook had troubled the Indian spinners by scoring some big hundreds the last time around. This series was also going to be the first series when India implemented the use of DRS.

Rajkot was hosting a Test match for the first time. The third time a new venue was hosting a Test match in this home season. England won the toss and elected to bat first. India were miserable in the field they lost their reviews early in the innings and dropped some easy catches. It also included the Indian skipper who dropped a couple of catches. Moeen Ali walked in at 106/3. He along with Joe Root started scoring at a decent pace. They put on 179 for the 4th wicket. Root was dismissed at 124 c&b by Umesh Yadav. At the start of 2nd day's play Moeen Ali reached his century but was dismissed by Shami soon after on 117. Stokes also scored 128. England scored 537 in their 1st innings. Despite the hundreds from Pujara and Vijay and a 40 from Kohli who got out hit wicket to Adil Rashid, India failed to outscore England and gave away a 49 run lead. The 19-year old Haseeb Hammeed scored 85 on debut for England. Cook scored 130. England declared at 260/3 giving India a target of 309 to score. India just had to survive. They were in trouble at 74/4. Kohli along with Ashwin ad Jadeja somehow helped India survive. India ended up being 174/6. It seemed like India had given away the advantage away to England very early in the series.

Another new venue was introduced for the 2nd Test in Vizag. India won the toss and elected to bat first. Gambhir was dropped for KL Rahul. India were 22/2 early in their innings. Both Kohli and Pujara scored hundreds. Kohli scored 167. India scored 455 in their first innings. For England Root, Bairstow and Stokes scored their fifties and Adil Rashid scored 32. England were bowled out on 255. India did not enforce the follow on. Kohli scored 81 but India were bowled out on 204. England had to score 405. They were bowled out on 153. Ashwin and Jayant Yadav (on debut) took 3 wickets each. Jadeja and Shami with a couple. Inda won by 246 and took a 1-0 lead in the 5-match series.

The third match was played at IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali. Generally helps seamers but this was a slow wicket with consistent bounce. Karun Nair(Ind) made his debut. England won the toss and elected to bat first. Only Bairstow scored in excess of fifty scoring 89. England scored 283 all out. India were in trouble at 204/6. Jadeja scored 90, Ashwin 72 and Jayant Yadav 55. Kohli 62 and Pujara 51 also helped the score. India scored 417 all out. England finished Day 4 on 78/4. Haseeb Hammeed scored 59 not out and Root also scored 78. England just managed 236. Ashwin 3/81, Shami 2/37 and Jadeja 2/61 helped India massively. India chased down 103 and won by 8 wickets. Jadeja was Man of the match. India took a unassailable 2-0 lead.

The series moved to Wankhede stadium where England had turned around their fortunes the last time they had played. England won the toss and elected to bat first. Keaton Jennings made his Test debut. Cook and Jennings took on the attack to the Indian bowlers. Jennings scored his maiden Test hundred on debut. Jos Buttler 76, Moeen Ali 50, Cook 46 and Jake Ball 31 took England to 400 all out. England looked in complete control. Vijay and KL Rahul came out all guns blazing and counter attack the England bowling with boundaries being hit around the Wankhede. Vijay scored 136 while Pujara scored 47. Kohli walked in at 146/2. He scored 116 along with Vijay and 57 with Jadeja. At 364/7 in walked Jayant Yadav with Kohli inching towards his 100. They put together 241. Kohli went on to scored 235. Jayant Yadav scored 104. India managed 631. England looked clueless against Ashwin and Jadeja. Ashwin 6/55 and Jadeja 2/63 helped India bowl England out for 195. India won by an innings and 36 runs. They now lead the series 3-0

England scored 477 of which Moeen Ali scored 146. Indian batsman just did not lose their wickets. Parthiv Patel scored 71. KL Rahul was very unfortunate as he got out for 199. At 211/3, in walked Nair and put on 161 with Rahul. Nair went on to become the 2nd Indian to score a triple century. He scored 303 and batted close to 6 sessions. India bowled out England on 207. Jadeja took 7/48. India after 5-matches won the series 4-0. Complete dominance over England. Ashwin managed to take 28 wickets in the series and Jadeja 26 wickets. Kohli won Man of the series for scoring 655 runs at an average of 109.16. India were now unbeaten for 18 Tests.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Chapter 15: The limited overs Captaincy
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The New Year began with new responsibilities for Virat Kohli. Just before the start of ODI series against England, MS Dhoni decided that it was time for him to step down from the Captaincy and forward the baton to Virat Kohli. In the interview he said the following:-

So from this it seemed that it was planned well in advance that Kohli was going to get the Captaincy but it was just Dhoni wanted Kohli to get enough exposure of Captaincy in the longer format and groom well with the team. And therefore he stayed for sometime in the ODI format.

The first ODI was played in Pune. India won the toss and elected to field first but little did they know with what approach England would come out to bat. Jason Roy just started hitting boundaries to all corners of ground but just when things looked good England committed an error. Roy shuffled across and flicked the ball and just ran for a single Hales didn't notice the throw coming towards his end so he didn't bother to dive and lost his wicket. Roy and Root got together and kept the partnership going without causing any trouble to the run-rate. Kohli brought in Jadeja to stop the flow of runs. Jadeja kept it tight and soon invited Roy to charge down the wicket and Roy got out stumped by Dhoni off Jadeja. Eoin Morgan and Joe Root kept rotating the strike and hitting the odd boundary. Hardik Pandya troubled Morgan and produced an edge to which umpire turned down the appeal. Dhoni asked Kohli to go for the review which he did and the decision was overturned. Buttler came in and straight away went for the big shot. Hardik Pandya dismissed him on 31 while from the other end Bumrah dismissed Joe Root on 78. Stokes played a cameo towards the end and scored 62 off 36. England scored 350/6 in their 50 overs. India lost Dhawan early as he tried to hit the ball over third man for a six but was caught by the fielder positioned for that shot. KL Rahul was bowled by Dawid Willey. Stokes came into the attack and got out both experienced players in Dhoni and Yuvraj. At 63/4, Kedar Jadhav joined Virat Kohli. Kedar Jadhav looked quite confident in his approach and was hitting a boundary or two every over. The run-rate soon came under control. Kohli as well started scoring quickly. Kohli reached his century off just 93 balls. Soon after he was dismissed on 122 off 105 balls. Jadhav and Kohli put on 200 runs for the 5th wicket. Kedar Jadhav scored his hundred off just 65 balls. But he too got dismissed on 120 off 76 balls. India had scored 291/6 till that point. Hardik Pandya and Jadeja straight went after the bowling. Jadeja was dismissed was 13. Pandya kept going after the bowling and he made 40 off just 37 balls. India needed just 1 off the Final over and Ashwin hit a huge six to Moeen Ali. India won by 3 wickets and Kohli just roared towards the crowd which filled the crowd with joy.

The second ODI of the 3-match series was played at Cuttack. England won the toss and chose to field. India got off to a good start but were soon 29/4. The experienced duo of MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh put on more than 250 runs. Yuvraj went on to score 150. MS Dhoni scored 134 and a late finish from Jadhav and Pandya helped India to 381/6 in their 50 overs. England kept up well with the rate with Roy hitting his way to 82. Morgan fought till the end and made 102 off 81 and was run out by Bumrah off his own bowling. India won by 15 runs.

The series moved on to Kolkata at the iconic Eden Gardens. England went on to score 321 with the help of Bairstow 56, Stokes 57 and Woakes with a cameo of 34 runs in just 17 balls. India once again lost both their openers early. Kohli along with Yuvraj put on 65 for the 3rd wicket. Yuvraj was out for 47. Kohli got out for 56 and Dhoni also got out for 26. India were reeling at 173/5. Kedar Jadhav with his 90 and Hardik Pandya with 65 runs took India to a position where they required 6 off 2 balls with just 2 wickets in had. India lost Kedar Jadhav and went on to lose the match by 5 runs.

Now it was time for a 3-match T20I series. The first T20I was at Kanpur. India won the toss and elected to bat first. Kohli opened with Rahul and took on the English bowling himself. India scored close to 10 runs per over in first 3 overs. In the 5th over they lost KL Rahul. Soon after Kohli got out. India just managed 47 in the Powerplay. The run-rate was significantly hampered after Kohli's wicket. India just scored 147/7. England never looked out of control and they kept dominating India and won the match by 7 wickets in just 18.1 overs.

The next match was at Nagpur on a slow wicket. It was difficult to time the ball on that surface. England once again won the toss and elected to field first. India were scoring at just about 6 runs per over till the 15th over. KL Rahul went on to score 71 runs. Only Manish Pandey supported him well by scoring 30 off 26. India scored 144/7 in their 20 overs. England tried to replicate what India had done on that surface. But they soon started shifting gears. Ben Stokes was playing well until he scored 38 off 27 balls. Root also scored 38 but failed to accelerate. England needed 8 off the last over . Bumrah conceded just 5 in the 19th over and took 2 wickets. England lost by 5 runs.

The last match of the series was played at Bangalore. India lost the advantage as they lost the toss and put in to bat first on a ground that was considered bowlers graveyard and chasing was a norm. Kohli ran himself out in the first over. KL Rahul and Raina counter attack the English bowlers. KL Rahul got out on 22. Raina and Dhoni put on 60 runs for the 4th wicket. Raina scored 65 runs. Yuvraj Singh took on Chris Jordan and hit 27 runs of that over. Next over he was dismissed by Tymal Mills. MS Dhoni went on to score his maiden 50 in T20Is. India scored 202/7 in 20 overs. England were going well and were on course to win the match and the series 2-1. Roy scored 31 off 23, Morgan scored 40 off 21 and Root 42 off 37. England collapsed from 119/2 to 127 all out. 7 wickets for 7 runs ! Chahal took 6/25 and Bumrah 3/14. India won the series 2-1. The Kohli era had truly begun.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Chapter 16: Border Gavaskar Trophy 2016-17

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After the One-off Test series against Bangladesh in which India won by 208 runs and Virat Kohli ended up scoring his 4th Test double ton, India now had to face a tough opponent in Australia in the Border Gavaskar Trophy consisting of 4 Test matches. If it is a Test series between India and Australia then it is nothing short of a drama both on and off the field. There would definitely be a lot of talk going on about each other in both camps. There will always be some on-field sledging and the opinions being thrown around by the spectators, the experts and the former players. This series might have been the perfect example of all those things.

It is quite often been seen that when a team goes on consistently achieving some highs without facing a much of lows then expectations are bound to increase. And such was the case over here. Before the series, the expectations on the Indian side and the Indian Captain and his batting had just peaked. And sometimes when the things don't turn out the way it was expected to be then things could go horribly wrong.

Spoiler

In my opinion, looking at the composition, this is the weakest Australian side to tour India. I don't think this team has the wherewithal to cope with a quality Indian side in the Indian conditions. It can again be 4-0 like 2013 season

The first match of the series was played a Pune. Australia won the toss and elected to bat first. The pitch started turning square right from the very first over. The bounce of the pitch was quite uneven and the surface was extremely dry. This pitch definitely reminds of the one used at Nagpur against South Africa couple of years prior to this series. The Australians began cautiously as they put on 82 runs on the board for the first wicket. They lost Warner at the score of 38. Matt Renshaw walked off the field as he wasn't feeling well. The Australian skipper Steve Smith along with Shaun Marsh spend some time out there in the middle. They put on 37 runs for the 2nd wicket stand. Smith and Handscomb together added 30 more runs before Ashwin and Jadeja dismissed them in consecutive deliveries. Australia went to Tea on Day 1 with the score of 149/4. Matt Renshaw returned to the crease and soon reached his half-century and then a collapse followed. Australia lost 5 wickets for 39 runs. With the score on 205/9, the Australian tail-enders showed some resistance as they went on to score 55 for the 10th wicket. Australia managed 260 all out in their first innings. A score of 260 seemed like a mountain to climb on that pitch. India got off to a steady start but they lost Vijay early. India were trying to recover from that early blow but they lost Pujara and Kohli in the span of 3 deliveries and were reeling at 44/3 in 15 overs. KL Rahul and Rahane brought India to a respectable position of 94/3. Soon after getting to his half century KL Rahul got dismissed. Steven O'Keefe wrecked havoc in the Indian batting line-up as they lost 7 wickets for just 11 runs to get bowled out for 105!!! O' Keefe took 6 wickets for 35 runs off his 13.1 overs. Losing wickets to a spinner in bulk can be one of the scariest and a horrible sight for an Asian team since they are used to playing spin well. The pitch was definitely difficult to bat on, but 105 seemed a sub-par total. India managed to take wickets at regular intervals before Steve Smith scored a gritty 109 off just 202 balls (although he was dropped 4 times and one of his stumping chance was missed). Australia scored 205 all out giving India a target of 441 to chase down on a surface that was deteriorated way too much. A draw looked completely out of equation as it was just Day 3. India ended up with yet another horrible display of batting. Steven O'Keefe ended with figures identical to his first innings. Nathan Lyon took 4/53. India got bowled out for 107 in their 2nd innings to lose the match by 333 runs. Australia broke India's 19 match unbeaten streak and gave them a reality check of where they stood. Since it was just the start of the series India were expected to bounce back.

The second match was played at Bangalore. India made 2 changes by replacing Vijay(as he was injured) and Jayant Yadav with Abhinav Mukund(returning in the team after 6 years) and Karun Nair. India won the toss and elected to bat first. Once again this was a turning pitch. Abhinav Mukund got out without scoring. KL Rahul and Pujara put on 61 for the 2nd wicket but they lost their way as they lost 3 wickets quickly and were reeling at 118/4. Rahul and Nair batted decently well and stitch together a 38 run partnership. From 156/4, India got bowled out on 187. Nathan Lyon took 8/50 (best bowling figures by a non-Asian spinner in India). KL Rahul scored 90 runs. Australia kept dominating the Indian bowlers and reached a commanding position at 132/2. Indian bowlers fought back and reduced Australia to 163/5. Australian lower order once again showed some resistance as Australia went on to score 276 all out taking a lead of 89 runs. After a good start India once again lost their way as they were 120/4. Pujara and Rahane put on 118 for the 5th wicket. India once again lost 4/20. The Indian tail-enders added 16 more runs. India ended their innings at 274 all out. Pujara 92, Rahane 52 and Rahul 51 helped India to a respectable total. But 187 wasn't difficult for Australia to score and they looked favorites to take a 2-0 lead in the 4-match series. Kohli and his men fought back and dismissed Australia for just 112. Ashwin ended with 6/41 and became the fastest spinner to 250 Test wickets.

The series moved to Ranchi now. The pitch this time was looking like a good batting pitch. Australia won the toss and elected to bat first. India troubled Australia early in their innings but Australia kept scoring at a good rate. Soon they were 140/4. Steve Smith and Maxwell made a huge partnership of 191 runs. Smith scored 176 not out and Maxwell scored 104 in his comeback match for Australia. Australia scored 451 all out which looked like a good total on the board. India though played well right from the start. They scored their runs slowly and took their own time. They waited for the opportunity to score their runs. India went on to score 603/9. Pujara scored a double ton(his 2nd against Australia and his 3rd overall) and played a record 525 balls. It was a typical Pujara innings at a crucial time in the series. India dismissed the top-order of Australia pretty quickly but Peter Handscomb and Shaun Marsh ensured that Australia held on for a fighting draw.

Kohli decided not to play the last match due to a shoulder injury and considered the option of rehabilitation to stay in prime fitness during the Champions trophy. Smith scored another century (his 4th in the series) in the last match of the series. Debutant Kuldeep Yadav troubled the Australian batsman throughout the match. Bhuvneshwar Kumar with a disciplined bowling spell took some crucial wickets at an important time in the match in the 2nd innings. India went on to win the match by 8 wickets chasing 106.

Although it was a difficult series but India fought back at right time and secured a 2-1 result in their favour. But 2-1 wasn't a bad result for Australia considering nobody gave them a chance before the series. Virat Kohli struggled throughout the series and averaged a poor 9.44 in 5 innings!! The series had its own share of controversies like the DRS incident in Bengaluru where Australia took help from their dressing room for using DRS. These incidents followed some words being spoken about each other in different camps and few off-field controversies. Sledging was the worst part of this series probably taken to a new level by the Indian Captain himself. Things looked ugly from the outset but it's an old saying that "Whatever happens on the field should stay on the field and players shouldn't be judged on basis of that."

This ended India's long but successful home season and it took Indian Cricket to a new height.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

The further part is very interesting since we are going to talk about the Champions Trophy 2017. Coincidentally it also become our Chapter 17.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Chapter 17: ICC Champions Trophy 2017

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The 2017 Champions Trophy was played in early June of 2017. India having won the previous edition in 2013 entered this tournament as defending champions. Also considering their recent form and the balanced side they had for this tournament along with the consistency they possessed as a side they were starting as definite favourites for the tournament. The hosts England considering their batting line-up and the fact they played in home conditions made them serious contenders for this tournament.

The following matches were to be played by India:-

Spoiler: Champions trophy 2017 fixtures for India

Date | Match | Venue
4th June 2017| India v/s Pakistan| Edgbaston
8th June 2017| India vs Sri Lanka| The Oval
11th June 2017| India v/s South Africa| The Oval|

India probably had easier matches coming their way to start of with their campaign with the likes of Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Pakistan would've always faced it difficult to beat India considering the vast difference between the sides. Pakistan probably didn't have any experienced players and the approach followed by their batsman was pretty much outdated. Their bowling was expected to win them matches throughout the tournament. India also had a weakness of over-reliance on their top 3 batsman. Yuvraj Singh had made his comeback just few months prior to that tournament and Dhoni looked to be out of touch. Pakistan won the toss on an Overcast day and put India into bat first. Amir started off with a fiery spell to a clueless looking Rohit Sharma. Rohit probably had no idea which way the ball would move. Dhawan on the other hand looked quite confident in his approach. After the slow start India switched gears. At 37/0, rain affected the play for almost an hour. The match was reduced to 47-over per side. Rohit Sharma probably played with a little too much caution but Dhawan kept taking risks and scored a brisk half century. Shadab Khan finally dismissed Dhawan in the 24th over. Rain once again interrupted the innings but there was no reduction in overs. India just hovered around 4.5-5 runs per over. And it start looking like India would end well below par. But again it was quite understandable that you need time to settle and the interruptions did no good to India either. Rohit crawled his way to 91 off 121 balls before he ran himself out in a controversial way (he grounded his bat before the ball had hit the stumps but just at the point of contact the bat just bounced off the surface, this rule was changed in October 2017). Yuvraj Singh just stormed his way past a quick-fire fifty which even gave confidence to Kohli and he too started to life up the run-rate. It was Hardik Pandya's 3 consecutive sixes in the last over that took India to 319/5 in their 47 overs. Pakistan probably dropped too many catches and did a blunder of opening the bowling with Imad Wasim. While batting, Pakistan never looked in the match and they were bowled out for 164 as they lost the match by 124 runs through DLS method.

The victory in the opening game made things easier for India and also showed that it would be really tough to beat India in the coming matches. Virat Kohli in the pre-match conference of the Sri Lanka match went on to say that they would want to take this as a warm-up. Yes, the Lankans were not that strong and probably much weaker than Indian side but to have this attitude in an ICC tournament is very passive of any side. Ricky Ponting made a similar mistake during the CB series 2008 final when Australia lost both the Finals to India. This was meant to be a must win game for Sri Lanka. A loss in this match probably would've ended their campaign. Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to field first. India started off decently and scored 49 runs in the Powerplay. Probably a touch too slow considering the modern day Cricket ? They went on to score 138 for the first wicket before Rohit Sharma mistimed a pull off Malinga's bowling to get caught at fine leg for 78 off 79. There was a rare sight in between the innings as Kohli got out for a duck after a period of more than 2 years in ODI Cricket. Yuvraj Singh also struggled to get going as he got out bowled to Asela Gunaratne scoring 7 off 18 balls. Dhawan went on to score a hundred but he never really switched gears. Dhoni also failed to hit boundaries early in his innings which probably affected India's final score. Nevertheless, Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya scored some quick runs to take India to a scored of 321/5. A total of more than 300 in back to back matches showed why India was amongst the best batting side in the tournament. Sri Lanka's misery continued as they lost Dickwella early in the innings with run-rate down to just 2.5 runs per over !!! Probably an indication that India had applied to much of a pressure. Danushka Gunathalika and Kusal Mendis took on the attack to the Indians and specifically their best bowlers in Bumrah and Jadeja. Jadeja kept bowling length balls with no turn to which Kusal Mendis hit some big shots. Jadeja struggled to contain the Lankans that day. Hardik Pandya dropped both the batsman in consecutive overs. Few more catches got dropped as well before a direct hit from Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed Gunathilaka. Mendis also ran himself out on Bhuvi's bowling. Gunaratne and Angelo Mathews made sure that they kept going for the big shots and went on to win the match by 6 wickets. The Indians probably got the taste of their own medicine. The loss put India in a situation where they had to win their last match or else they would get Eliminated. The fact that match was against South Africa added to their misery.

India now had to face a destructive batting line-up of South Africa who had an equally good bowling attack. It was always going to be difficult to beat them. But India had actually never lost to South Africa in the Champions Trophy so a bit of positive there for them. India won the toss and put South Africa in to bat first. Since India is a good chasing side it made more of sense to field first in such a big match like this. South Africa took some time initially but soon both Amla and Quinton de Kock started attacking the India bowlers. Hardik Pandya dropped De Kock's catch. Looking at the way the pitch was behaving it definitely looked like a slow pitch hence Kohli brought in Ashwin and Jadeja into the attack. Ashwin got out Amla caught behind while Jadeja knocked De Kock's off-stump as he tried to play across the line of the ball. The pressure of dot balls kept mounting on South Africa and it resulted in both AB De Villiers and David Miller getting run-out. Hardik Pandya troubled the Proteas with his cutter and soon got out Du Plessis. South Africa collapsed from 142/3 to 191 all out. Bumrah and Bhuvi got 2 wickets each while Ashwin, Jadeja and Hardik Pandya got a wicket each. India lost Rohit Sharma early but Dhawan and Kohli built on a big partnership before Dhawan got out for 78 off Imran Tahir. Yuvraj Singh smashed a six towards mid-wicket on the back-foot to Duminy as India won by 8 wickets in just 35 overs. Pakistan managed to beat Sri Lanka in a close encounter and qualified for the Semi-finals. England just steam rolled their opposition to reach the Semis. Surprisingly Bangladesh made it to the Semi-finals ahead of Australia as they had their game abandoned against Australia while they managed to comprehensively beat New Zealand in what looked like a difficult chase as Bangladesh had lost 4 wickets inside 5 overs chasing 266.

Spoiler: Teams progressing to Semi-final

Group A | Group B
England| India
Bangladesh| Pakistan|

So the following were the Semi-final matches to be played

Spoiler: Semi-finals

Date | Match | Venue
14th June 2017| England v/s Pakistan| Cardiff
15th June 2017| India v/s Bangladesh| Edgbaston

In the first Semi-final Pakistan won the toss and elected to bowl first. They were dealt with a huge blow since Mohammed Amir injured himself before the match. But still they manage to shock the extremely strong English batting line-up by bowling them out for 211. Hasan Ali who was probably the best bowler in the tournament got 3 wickets to his name. What was even more surprising was that Pakistan batted aggressively throughout their innings and won in just 37 overs that too by 8 wickets.

India on the other hand had to face a weaker opponent but the pressure of a knockout was still prevailing considering that they hadn't done well in 2015 World Cup and 2016 WT20. India played the same side that had beat South Africa in their last encounter. They won the toss and put Bangladesh into to bat first. Bangladesh started off aggressively and straight away put Indian bowlers under pressure. But the Indian bowlers kept their calm while trying to keep the runs down. They dismissed Tamim Iqbal on 70 at the score of 154/2 which turned out to be a game changing moment in the match. Bangladesh kept losing wickets after Tamim Iqbal's dismissal and managed just about 264 in their 50 overs. Bhuvi, Bumrah and Jadhav's part-time spin managed 2 wickets each while Jadeja also got a breakthrough. Ashwin kept things tight as he didn't leak much runs. India started off aggressively and scored 63/0 in the Powerplay. Dhawan reached a quick-fire 46 before he got out to Mashrafe Mortaza trying to go over mid-off to get caught. Kohli and Rohit Sharma put an unbeaten 178 run partnership. Rohit scored 123 and Kohli 96 as India went on to win by 9 wickets in just 50 overs and expectedly reached the Finals as predicted well before the tournament began. England unfortunately missed their berth. So a cracking India-Pakistan encounter was now to be played in the Finals.

As compared to the Group match against India, the Pakistan team was all of a sudden looking very threatening to beat India in the Finals. Their bowlers getting back to the form just before the Final was a very good sign for them. What was more pleasing for them was having found an aggressive batsman at the top of the batting line-up along with the fact of it being a left and right combo. The middle order still seemed to be a problem for them. Nevertheless, beating a consistent and a strong team like India in Finals would've been an extremely great achievement for a team who was hardly expected to make it to the knockouts. Pakistan must have been over the moon by now.

In the big Final on a bright sunny day in South London at The Oval what had a fresh pitch in offer seemed to offer a lot to the spectators. India won the toss once again and they once again elected to field first. Pakistan were straight away put under pressure as the runs were just very hard to come by. Bumrah induced an edge from Fakhar Zaman and got him caught by Dhoni. All seemed to have gotten over for Pakistan early in the match but the on-field umpires went upstairs to check for a no-ball and it did turn out to be a no-ball. Fakhar Zaman smashed the free-hit ball from Bumrah for a boundary. Azhar Ali also from the other end looked solid and hit few boundaries. Ashwin for some reason was time and again bowling down the leg-side and looked ineffective. Everytime Jadeja came on to bowl, Zaman just stepped out of his crease and hit him over the top. India looked completely ineffective in the field. Azhar Ali ran himself out at the score of 122/0. Babar Azam and Zaman got the partnership going. Fakhar Zaman hit an amazing century. Hardik Pandya finally got him out at 119. It was a super bit of innings and probably one of the best in an ICC final. Malik and Hafeez scored some quick runs at the end to take Pakistan to 338/4. Pakistan probably looked clear favourites to win thr match now and India probably looked to have an outside chance. Amir started off with an amazing spell as he got Rohit Sharma out lbw on a duck. The ball pitched on middle stump and went on to hit the top of leg-stump. Amir even troubled Virat Kohli. Although Kohli did manage to hit a boundary but he edged the next ball into the slips only to get dropped by Azhar Ali. The very next ball Kohli tried to flick the ball at the on-side but got a leading edge to get caught at point by the safe pair of hands of Shadab Khan. Dhawan edged a cross seamer from Amir to Sarfaraz Ahmed and he got caught behind. An incredibly talented bowler got out the entire top order of Indian side within a span of minutes. The rest of the batting looked helpless and lost wickets in heap. At 69/5 walked Hardik Pandya. Pandya played beautifully and scored 73 runs. He timed the ball well and whenever he lofted the ball it cleared the boundary by a long way. Unfortunately he got run-out. India got bowled out for 158 and lost the match by a massive 180-run margin. Pakistan finally defeated all the odds and went on to win the Champions Trophy. An incredible fightback from Pakistan after being completely outplayed in their first match.