FINAL DRESS REHEARSAL

IN THEIR LAST GAME BEFORE CHAMPIONS TROPHY, INDIA WILL LOOK TO FIND SOME ANSWERS TO FIGURE THEIR BEST POSSIBLE COMBINATIONS IN AHMEDABAD

- SWAROOP SWAMINATHAN

THE last time the Champions Trophy came around in 2017, the Indian team had a set template towards the ODI game.

Wicket conservation at the top building towards a crescendo in the back-end, Virat Kohli mastering chases and a solid finisher in the form of MS Dhoni with Hardik Pandya an exciting addition. Even if England tore apart the accepted blueprint, India considered this template de rigueur in the 50-over game.

While England and Pakistan won the big 50-over ICC titles in that two-year period, India's attitude gave them one semifinal and final. After a change of regime in 2022, India carried with them the same players but they changed their attitude towards white-ball cricket, especially batting up top. And they built something special, The Class of 2023 (one Travis Head sized evening shouldn't take this away from them) will go down as one of their greatest ODI sides.

With India returning to the scene of one of their great modern heart-aches the Narendra Modi Stadium-now would be a good time to take stock of where they stand in the format with less than a week to go for the Champions Trophy.

Change in approach

A couple of years before the home World Cup in 2023, a regime change had resulted in a new way to play ODI cricket.