The Indian team made its touch down in Dubai on Saturday, hoping to bag the ICC Champions Trophy, starting from February 18, for the second time since 2013. India had last won the ICC marquee event in England 12 years back under the legendary MS Dhoni. The players and support staff trooped into a waiting bus, in line with the new BCCI diktat of travelling as a group, before proceeding to the designated team hotel.
Earlier, dressed nattily in a white T-shirt and black tracks, Rohit Sharma got down from his car, and walked towards his teammates at the departure lounge amid loud calls of ‘Rohit bhai’ and ‘Rohit sir’ by fans waiting near the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport entrance in Mumbai.
Most of the squad members arrived in the team bus including head coach Gautam Gambhir, vice-captain Shubman Gill and star batter Virat Kohli and the stars obliged some fans by signing autographs or waving at a few of them.
Soon, the team boarded an afternoon flight to Dubai amid heightened optimism of netting another global trophy after winning the T20 World Cup last June.
A Jasprit Bumrah-less India will open their campaign against Bangladesh on February 20 in Dubai before the much-anticipated blockbuster against traditional rivals Pakistan on February 23, and then the Men in Blue will take on New Zealand on March 2 to round off their league engagements.
The confidence — of the fans and the team — has been boosted by India’s recent 3-0 ODI series whitewash at home over England.
Those supporters assembled at the Mumbai airport will be hoping that the icons, led by Rohit and Kohli, will pull off another triumph like they did in the West Indies last year.
One last opportunity for greats?
Few months ago, Hardik Pandya had walked out with the T20 World Cup trophy hoisted on his shoulders to join a sea of passionate fans on the streets near the Wankhede Stadium for an open bus parade.
If those scenes are to be repeated next month, then India will need some runs from Rohit and Kohli, who have copped heavy criticism after repeated failures in Test cricket.
But they replied in kind, as Rohit made a characteristically fluent hundred — a 90-ball 119 in Cuttack ODI against England — and Kohli his 73rd fifty in Ahmedabad.
This might have brought them a temporary relief but a productive outing in the Champions Trophy is mandatory in the context of the duo’s future in top-flight cricket.
With the emphasis firmly on hitting the next World Test Championship cycle from June and building a team for the 2027 50-over World Cup the Ajit Agarkar-chaired selection panel will closely observe how the two veterans fare in Dubai.
Kohli needs 37 runs to become the third batter ever in ODI history to make 14,000 runs while Rohit is only 12 runs away from becoming the 10th batter to complete 11,000 runs. But without a trophy, those numbers will lose some heaviness around them.
A chance for young turks
A big promotion came young Gill’s way when he was named the ODI vice-captain, and the batter who averages nearly 61 in the format will be keen to stamp his authority with a fruitful outing in the Champions Trophy.
The injury-enforced absence of Bumrah is an opportunity for the likes of Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana, while Varun Chakravarthy would want to prove himself as the surprise strike weapon.
A coming together of all these factors will determine whether India will touch back in Mumbai as a boisterous winning group sometime next month.
Till then fans can immerse themselves in joyous optimism.
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