OTD: MS Dhoni led India to Champions Trophy title win over England

Indian cricket team under MS Dhoni ended their 11-year wait to win Champions Trophy title. Sourav Ganguly and his side had shared the trophy in 2002 with Sri Lanka after rain played spoilsport in the finals on two successive days. In the last two Champions Trophy tournaments, India had been knocked out in the early phase of the tournament. In 2009, MS Dhoni leading the side for the first time saw his team bow out in the first round. 

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Having won the 2011 ODI World Cup, team India under MS Dhoni were one of the firm favorites. Rohit Sharma was given the chance to open the batting for the first time in his ODI career. In the first match, India took on South Africa and scored 331 on the board after batting first thanks to Shikar Dhawan’s century and won the match by 26 runs. 

In the next two games, the Men in Blue beat West Indies and Pakistan to make it to the final four. Sri Lanka faced India in the Semi-Finals at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff and saw the ODI World Cup winners win the game by eight wickets. This helped India set-up a final date with hosts England for the coveted title. 

MS Dhoni completes perfect treble

On 23rd of June 2023, many fans waited to see India and England battle it out for the second biggest ICC title in the fifty over format. Rains meant that the start of play in the finals at the Edgbaston was delayed. Once the weather cleared, the game was reduced to a T20 contest and Alastair Cook won the toss and decided to bowl first. 

Rohit Sharma was out early for nine but Shikhar Dhawan with 31 and Virat Kohli with 43 helped India be on track for a decent total on the board. Dhawan was out after scoring 31 while Kohli top scored with 43 which came off 34 balls. Ravindra Jadeja then scored 33 important runs which came off 25 balls with two boundaries and 3 sixes to help India reach 129. 

Umesh Yadav struck first when he got the huge wicket of Cook caught in the slips by Ashwin for two runs. Ashwin then ran riot with the ball as he got the key wickets of Jonathon Trott and Joe Root in successive overs while Jadeja dismissed Ian Bell for 13 to reduce the English side to 46 for four in the ninth over. 

Ravi Bopara and Eoin Morgan joined forces to add 64 runs for the fifth wicket in 53 balls. At that stage England needed 20 to win from 15 balls and Ishant Sharma turned the game around. Bopara and Morgan fell in successive balls to hands the advantage back to India. Jadeja then castled Jos Buttler while Rohit Sharma ran out Tim Bresnan in the dying stages of the game. 

England needed 15 runs off the last over with Ashwin being asked to bowl. Stuart Broad hit the second ball of the over for a boundary to make it 11 off 4. Ashwin managed to keep his composure as he gave away just five runs from four balls to help India win the game and take the Champions Trophy title by five runs. MS Dhoni completed the trio of white-ball titles having won the T20 and ODI World Cups.