India emerge as strong ICC Champions Trophy 2013 favourites after blowing away the West Indies

India surged into the ICC Champions Trophy semi-finals after an eight wicket victory over the West Indies at The Oval on Tuesday. Having entered the tournament amid IPL corruption allegations and talk of past touring failures overseas, the Indians have now emerged as favourites to win the competition.

Prior to the Champions Trophy, much had been made of the fact that traditionally, the Indians fail to tour well. However, thus far they have overcome these supposed troubles on foreign soil. After comprehensive victories over South Africa in Cardiff, and now also the Windies, India are now strong favourites with the bookies to become champions.

And no wonder, because Duncan Fletcher’s side are beginning to look like the complete package. On paper, most would agree that this Indian squad is one of the strongest in the competition, but it has been their dominant performances on the pitch which has further swung opinion their way.

At the top of the order, Shikhar Dhawan and his opening partner Rohit Sharma have taken the tournament by storm. After back-to-back hundreds, Dhawan is the leading run-scorer in the competition. His imperious 114 (from 94 balls, with 12 fours and a six) against South Africa led the Indians to the highest total of the competition so far (331-7), whilst his unbeaten 102* helped his side cruise to victory against the West Indies (107b, 10×4, 1×6). Sharma, having slotted in alongside Dhawan at the top of the order, has also hit his straps thus far, with scores of 65 & 52. Subsequently, Dhawan and Sharma have given the Indians a start of 100+ for the first wicket in both of their opening group games, and thus laid the foundations for their team’s success.

With the ball, the Indians have fared far better than anticipated, mainly due to the dry, slow pitches which have been much more conducive to spin-bowling than your typical English pitch in early summer. The legend about the Indians’ failures outside of the sub-continent lies in the lack of influence of their spin heavy attack; however, thus far Ravichandran Ashwin and particularly Ravindra Jadeja have been highly effectual. Jadeja’s 5-36 against the West Indies earned him the man-of-the-match award, which in addition to his 2-31 in their first fixture, means he is currently one of the leading wicket takers in the tournament.

Even the Indians fast bowling unit, one of their weakest departments in recent years, seem to be enjoying the English conditions. On their last visit to England, only Praveen Kumar had any real success with the seaming-swinging ball, however, thus far each of their three seamers have experienced a relative degree of success. The quickest man of the pack, Umesh Yadav, picked up a fifer in their warm-up match against the Aussies, before taking the key scalps of Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers against South Africa, as well as picking up the wicket of West Indian skipper Dwayne Bravo on Tuesday. In addition, Ishant Sharma looks like a completely different bowler to the man who supplied England with a steady flow of juicy half-volleys last time around, picking up three wickets in the competition so far. As for youngster Bhuvneshwar Kumar, he has arguably been the best of the three, bowling consistently good lengths and lines. He too has three wickets, including the vital dismissal of Chris Gayle, who had previously taken his bowling to pieces in that incredible knock of 175 for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Kumar’s Pune Warriors in the IPL.

To conclude, despite all this positive talk, names such as the in-form Dinesh Kartik, the ever-present stroke-making left-hander Suresh Raina, the third best ODI batsman in the world (according to the ICC rankings) Virat Kohli and the darling of Indian cricket, captain, wicket-keeping and power-hitting genius Mahendra Singh (MS) Dhoni have not even warranted one mention. Such baffling omissions from this analysis exemplifies the quality of cricket this Indian side is currently producing, and all that with two of their star players (Kohli and Dhoni) failing, at present, to make their mark on the tournament. But fear not friends, they will, because the Indians are in this competition for the long haul. Minus any major injuries or minor catastrophes, India will be one of the teams contesting the final at Edgbaston on 23rd June.