Five lessons from the ICC Champions Trophy Final

The ICC Champions Trophy final was frustrating and enlightening at the same time. Here are a few lessons we gleaned from the match between India and England on Sunday. 1. T20 is more exciting than ODIs If the final would have been an ODI, one can almost entirely be sure that the match would not have been as exciting. The reason: the pitch was turning square. India had the bowlers to exploit it and England did not. The shorter match meant both teams had a chance and that’s what T20 does so well – it evens the playing field. A few wickets and many bad decisions by England gave the match to India but it was exciting (even if the quality wasn’t the highest) and that is the charm of T20. [caption id=“attachment_901221” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  India is only the second side after Australia to win the World Cup and the Champions Trophy. AP[/caption] 2. The ICC doesn’t care about ODIs A final of a major tournament and the ICC didn’t think they should have had a reserve day. A final in England – where it can rain at virtually any time – and the ICC didn’t think they should have had a reserve day. The official reason was that this is only window with England playing NZ in T20 on Tuesday. And that is why England lost the final of an ODI tourney via a T20 match. The ICC hasn’t even bothered to come out and admit that they got it really wrong. This was organisation at its worst but it also shows that the ICC only cares about making money. To make matters worse – only four players from the England ODI team are also part of the T20 team. One wonders what happened to the ICC’s powers of persuasion. 3. India rule ODIs – a format that seems to be fast dying It’s probably the T20 effect – but it’s hard to watch ODIs. It’s neither non-stop action like T20, nor is it strategy-driven like Test matches. The constant tinkering with the format has meant that most fans are unaware of all the new rules and that can’t be good either. India have won the last two big ODI tournaments (the World Cup in 2011 and the Champions Trophy 2013) and if anything, it suits the BCCI’s interests to come up with a way to save the format. [embedalsosee] 4. As good a team England is in Tests, they are almost as good at choking as SA We really don’t know if South Africa would choke in the final of a big ODI tournament because they never get there. England, on the other hand, are past masters of getting into the final and then losing: 1979 WC (to WI), 1987 WC (Aus), 1992 WC (Pak), 2004 ICC Champions Trophy (WI), 2013 ICC Champions Trophy (India). And given how long it’s taken them to get to this one, their next appearance in the final is a long time coming. It might allow them to get over their choking habit – after all which team loses when it needs 20 runs off 15 balls with 6 wickets in hand. They might say they were missing Kevin Pietersen but then India were missing many of their experienced stars too. 5. Rain changes the rules of the game When the first three days of the third Test between England and Australia in 1971 were washed out officials decided to abandon the match and, instead, play a one-off one day game. When most of the day of the Champions Trophy final between India and England was drowned in multiple rain showers, the officials decided to play a T20 match instead. It was farcical but spare a thought for all the fans who spent hours at the ground, waiting for the rain to stop. It wouldn’t have seemed quite as bad to them. Truth to be said, rain forces cricket to innovate and it often produces better results than the ICC Cricket Committees.