The good old days are back for Indian cricket. After the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar from one day internationals, the first major tournament for a young team India. Indians were looking very confident on the breezy England pitches, especially Dinesh Karthik who had scored two centuries in consecutive matches. India’s first match was against South Africa. Indians batted first as South Africa chose to field. Captain MS Dhoni surprised everyone by sending Rohith Sharma to open with Shikhar Dhawan, which resulted in a very good partnership. India gave South Africa a huge target of 332 with the help Shikhar Dhawan’s century to chase down. R.Jadeja and crew bowled well to restrict South Africa. India’s second match was against the West Indians. R.Jadeja bowled beautifully to stop West Indians at 233.
Indians chased it comfortably with the help of yet another century by S.Dhawan. India qualified for the semi-finals. India’s 3rd match was against their arch rivals Pakistan who were already eliminated from the tournament. The rain affected match was won by India. In semi finals India were against Sri Lankans, who were restricted for a low score of 181, which India chased comfortably. In the finals, India took on England. The final was reduced to a 20 over match. Indians batted first and scored 129. England was restricted to 124 and India were crowned winners of the Champions Trophy 2013
