On This Day: India defended a 129 run total against England to win the 2013 Champions Trophy under the captaincy of MS Dhoni.
India, led by MS Dhoni, were the side to beat back in Champions Trophy 2013. Unbeaten throughout the tournament, they took on hosts England in a rain-curtailed final. India started their campaign with an emphatic win over South Africa in Cardiff and then shrugged off challenges from West Indies and Pakistan in Birmingham. They were dominant in their win over Sri Lanka to set up a title clash against England.
It was rain that kept frustrating the fans and after a long wait and intervention by the ICC, the match was curtailed to 20 overs. England won the toss and elected to bowl first. Out walked India openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma. Dhawan was the man in form in and he topped the batting charts with 363 runs.
After losing Sharma early, India were stabilised by Dhawan and Virat Kohli as they added 31 runs before Dhawan was dismissed by Ravi Bopara.
Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja steady India
England bowlers never allowed India to break free – Dinesh Karthik (6), Suresh Raina (1) and MS Dhoni (0) did not contribute much to the score and India slipped to 66 for 5. However, Kohli kept his wits about him and scored a vital 43 off 34 balls while Ravindra Jadeja played a useful innings of 33 off 25 balls to push India to 129 for 7.
In response, England lost skipper Alastair Cook in the second over while Ian Bell(13), Jonathan Trott (20) and Joe Root (7) were dismissed by spinners Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin.
England were reeling at 46 for 4 when Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara stepped up – they added 64 runs for the fifth wicket and they looked on course to clinch the title.
England needed 20 runs in the last 16 balls when Ishant Sharma turned the game around. He picked up the wickets of Morgan and Bopara on successive deliveries.
England slumped after this jolt as they lost Jos Buttler for a duck and Tim Bresnan for two. R Ashwin bowled the final over and defended 14 runs successfully to spark wild celebrations in the India camp.
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