OTD in 2013: MS Dhoni completes trophy cabinet with Champions Trophy triumph in England

MS Dhoni completed his trophy cabinet on this day, 12 years ago, in 2013. Leading an inexperienced Indian Team against hosts England in the final of the ICC Champions Trophy at Edgbaston in Birmingham, Dhoni played his cards to perfection to seal an improbable win for the Men in Blue, leading them to their second CT triumph and his third ICC trophy as the skipper. In a rain-hit One-Day match reduced to 20 overs per side, Dhoni’s India had England under its wraps, and despite losing momentum late during the second innings, they pulled it back just at the end to complete a memorable yet historic win.

Heading into the final with a dominant win over favourites Sri Lanka in the semis, Team India was sent into bat first after the game resumed following several hours of delay. With the newer opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan taking strides, India hoped for an impactful start, but lost Rohit bowled on just nine inside four overs. Virat Kohli and Dhawan stitched a 31-run stand before the left-hander got out.

That, however, triggered a batting collapse, as India went from 50/1 to 66/5 in the blink of an eye, with the Indian captain also getting out on a four-ball duck.

As Team India had its back against the wall, the young duo of Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja put together crucial 47 runs for the sixth wicket, bailing them out of trouble. Although Kohli departed just at the fag end of the innings, Jadeja remained unbeaten, propelling India to a fighting 129 for seven in 20 overs.

Dhoni masterclass

England perhaps had the wrong XI for this 20-20 game. Considering they didn’t make any changes to their supposed best 50-over side despite rain interruption, they paid for it in the end; however, some fantastic bowling and masterclass captaincy behind the wickets aided that result.

England lost wickets in a cluster at the start, losing their top four inside nine overs for 46 runs. With the final’s pressure and the rising required rate ahead of them, Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara added a massive 64-run stand, crucial in the game’s context, to reduce the target to 20 off 22 balls.

MS Dhoni then pulled the rabbit out of the hat by switching two fielding positions, enough to remove the settled batting pair on successive deliveries in a captaincy masterclass. Their departure saw England crumble under pressure, and despite having a young Jos Buttler and all-rounder Tim Bresnan at the crease, India had the better of the hosts, winning the game by just five runs.

With that victory, MS Dhoni, at that time, became the first and only captain to date to win all three ICC white-ball trophies, including the T20 World Cup in 2007 and the home ODI WC in 2011.