Who will win the 2017 Champions Trophy?

[Nikhil_cric]

the attack isnt much in terms of the X-factor but it gets the job done and is fairly eocnomical

I don't think they've played enough as a group to say whether they get the job done or not. They haven't been tested against the explosive lineups with bats like warner/maxwell/Guptill/Quinton/AB etc. Heck they couldn't even defend 350 odd against India recently and barely defended 320 odd and we don't have that good a lineup.

 

[Swashbuckler]

which players do you think india should have selected?

Bowling: We shouldn't have selected Ashwin, because he is suffering from sports hernia for the past 6-7 months. He was distinctly under par in the latter part of our home season. He needs more rest and in any case even if has completely recovered it won't be wise to expect him to start firing immediately without any practice. I am a Chennai lad and in one of the local interviews in Tamil his coach said that he hasn't touched the ball since the end of the Australia series, which is worrying me. He has been solely picked on the basis of reputation and his ODI record in England which is pretty good. We needed the youngster Kuldeep Yadav here, terrific prospect for us and has all the tools to be successful at the highest level. Umesh Yadav too is a mediocre ODI bowler, he has no place in our 1st XI, too erratic and useless in the death overs. We needed Sandeep Sharma in stead of Umesh, conditions in England are tailor made for a bowler like him. But still I think our bowling will do OK, and will definitely surprise a few teams. Bhuvi, Shami, Bumrah, Sir, Ashwin/Hardik will still be a handful, especially against weaker batting lineups like Lanka and Pakistan.

Batting: Our real selection gaffe comes here. What is Rahane doing in a 21st century ODI batting lineup of a traditional batting heavy team like India? He has been given enough chances and is a proven failure in the shorter formats, kinda like India's Asad Shafiq. He is Kohli's close buddy and Kohli is biased, won't be surprised if this plodder opens the batting in all our group games. Similarly Yuvi and MSD are done at this level. They were greats a few years back but now don't deserve to be selected, huge liability the both of them. Yuvi is troubled by any form of quality bowling these days, pace or spin. He is only semi decent against rubbish bowling attacks on flat pitches. Dhoni has lost his reflexes and hand-eye co-ordination. With an awful technique such as his he was always going to get exposed at an earlier age and here we are. A 34 year old Dhoni is worse than a 42 year old Sachin, because of his technical shortcomings. He has also lost his famed power. I would have preferred to see Rishab Pant in place of MSD, Shreyas Iyer in place of Yuvi and Raina/Uthappa in place of Rahane.

This is a weak batting line up . Rohit is coming back after a long layoff, Dhawan too(but he has a tremendous record in ICC 50 over tournaments) while Kohli looks off colour plus the scars of 2014 may be at the back of his mind. 2 useless has beens in Yuvi-MSD before Jadhav restores some sanity before we move on to Rahane and lose that sanity. We will miss Rahul big time here. From the top of my head this is the worst batting line up we are sending to a 50 over ICC event since 1992 WC. You guys will thump us badly. I still expect our bowlers to do well but on June 4th I fully expect your quicks to bowl us under 150 and finish the job.

 

[DHONI183]

Pakistan obviously don´t have much of a team to boast about, but I feel that a win over India in their opening match could be the ultimate boost that they might get, and from then on a win over Sri Lanka (a lesser team of course, with due respect) might ease them through to the semis. Easier said than done however, and India have a much stronger team on papers, but the key to any Indo-Pak match has always been the pressure - and sometimes it´s so huge that that has in the past often decided the outcome of the match despite there being a clear difference in the strength of the two teams. So a positive way to look at them facing the archrivals in the very first match might be this, and they do have a superior record over India in this particular tournament. Now, if only they can trap India in the pressure instead of themselves getting trapped.

On their chances in the tournament itself, well, things don´t look too bright I´m afraid. However, if flat pitches are dished out, which´s most likely, then I´m afraid even a miracle might be eliminated because if Pakistan stand any chance, then that would be either through chasing or even defending 220-ish scores - the way they´ve been winning their matches in the recent years.

As for India, they´ve a somewhat similar issue, although the reason behind them is different. From 2008 to around 2011 were the years where India´s ODI batting line-up would be years ahead of other teams, in terms of the strike-rates of their batsmen and in general being aggressive. Since then however, T20-style hitting has completely taken over even in the ODI format and their batting is lagging behind by some place in comparison to England, Australia and South Africa. They don´t get to 350+ totals with as much ease as the aforementioned teams do (mostly requiring one or two batsmen to get a big score) and neither can they bat in an ultra aggressive mode that the others can. If extremely flat kind of pitches are provided (like the majority of them in the World Cup 2015), I´d put India in the danger zone immediately, and someone like MS Dhoni will be neutralised badly (as much as I´d love to see it happen otherwise). If the scores range from 270 to 310 and normal batting surfaces are provided, India will be a threat. Their bowling has seen great improvement in the recent years, so that deserves its respect.

South Africa.... Remember that the reason behind low expectations from them isn´t at all the ability, skill and the capability of the team. They´re world-beaters in all departments and can bring down any team, as many bilteral series show, but it´s their inability to get going in ICC tournaments that makes people not see them as favourites anymore. After all those years of high expectations from them, people now are finally getting the "Been there before, done it before" feeling. In my view, sometimes (in fact very often) low expectations from fans and experts can free you up a great deal and suddenly you don´t even realise before you´re standing a step or two away from glory.

England are red hot favourites. Boy, what a batting line-up they´ve! And it doesn´t end there, they´ve plenty of all-round options (the likes of Stokes, Moeen, Rashid, Willey etc. give them such a clear advantage over other teams) and a good bowling attack too. Australia would be second favourites (on papers), clearly, and they know how to win big tournaments.

However, however, the problem with such explosive, T20-styled batting line-ups is that they´re very prone to collapses, especially in big matches and under pressure. For a team to win a world event, there´ll be, it has to be and it´s a must that at least once or twice there´ll be an occasion where early wickets will fall or a mini-collapse might happen mid-way the innings, and it´s there when your batsmen will be required to compromise on their style of play and be a bit circumspect. If they don´t do that, you´re bowled out for under 200 and your tournament is done there and then. This is a concern that I´ve more about England (for the kind of one-dimensional batting approach that they´ve adopted) and South Africa (for almost the same reason as England but add to it their habit of collapsing like a house of cards in world events) than about Australia, but it applies to them too.

New Zealand will prove to be tough competitors and will make full use of any sniff that they´ll get from the either of top two teams from their group.
The true spirit and the identity of Sri Lanka is to fight. That they´ll do and will provide close matches, but making it to the semis will prove to be a step too far.
What a pleasant sight it´ll be if Bangladesh manage to spring a surprise. They´re fully capable now and as every team would know, take them light and their go your chances!

 

[zayn]

Wow you think that's weak.

Woakes (Seam, swing, pace)
Wood (Seam and 140+ avg pace)
Willey (Swing)
Plunkett (Raw pace)
Ben Stokes (Pace and swing)
Rashid (Can turn it on any deck)
Jake Ball (Seam and swing)

I can't ever call this bowling attack weak

You've written a description for each bowler; how about some numbers too?

It's a weak attack, and they fully expect themselves to concede 330+ consistently. Fortunately they've got the batting to chase any score on a flat deck.

We saw yesterday what happens when there's a bit of swing on offer. They haven't quite got the quality of bowlers to fully exploit conditions, nor can their batsman play the moving ball.

 

[WC-Passion]

England.

 

[Hadi Rizvi]

You've written a description for each bowler; how about some numbers too?

It's a weak attack, and they fully expect themselves to concede 330+ consistently. Fortunately they've got the batting to chase any score on a flat deck.

We saw yesterday what happens when there's a bit of swing on offer. They haven't quite got the quality of bowlers to fully exploit conditions, nor can their batsman play the moving ball.

Yes individual numbers might not be impressive but they work really well as a bowling unit. They rarely rely on individual performances from their bowlers instead wickets are often evenly shared. This is unlike most other teams where Amir, Starc, Boult, Mustafiz and Rabada/Morkel are expected play a major role in bowling performances for their respective teams.

The thing with England is that they are not a one-man show instead their whole team is a complete package where every single player can win the match on their day.

 

[MenInG]

Any changes to your thoughts?

 

[Waseem]

England still with the best chance!

 

[thehub]

England still with the best chance!

As per books, India is no 1 fav now. Eng the close second.

 

[BD-fan]

Any changes to your thoughts?

This threads have lots of humble pie to be distributed. Outside Asia, and 3 teams in the semis. One will definitely make it.
+++
Chokers choked.

Aussies hopes were washed away. NZ was never the answer.

 

[MenInG]

This threads have lots of humble pie to be distributed. Outside Asia, and 3 teams in the semis. One will definitely make it.
+++
Chokers choked.

Aussies hopes were washed away. NZ was never the answer.

Amazing. True. But my India forecast holds.

 

[Nil Dhumrojal]

Need another poll like this with only 4 options of semi finalists

 

[Nil Dhumrojal]

Only one team came out from this pole having only 3.74% vote . Amaging.

 

[Rayyman]

Looks like it will be Pakistan.

 

[Muhammad10]

I'll be honest. I barely gave us a 1% chance.

 

[kingusama92]

I think PAK has a good chance.

 

[shabir kham]

If Pakistan can win one match with shehzad,hafiz,azhar bar sl then bd should win CT

Now talk nah, rankings are just their to fool people

 

[Braveheart]

Rameez Raja called it absolutely spot on when he said on Sky Sports before the Tournament:
'Pakistan V India Final- Pakistan to win'.

 

[Rayyman]

These posters have predicted correctly:

Abdullah719,
ahmedwaqas92,
aliasad1998,
anakwalajinn,
Arsalan Pro,
Aviator,
Azlan Khan,
Badboy_1,
basitmian,
bilalmasaud,
Dr_Bassim,
Farhansk,
hafizexpress,
Hamza78,
Justcrazy,
KhalidRafi,
KhanPredator,
KyoOne,
Maaz Ahmed,
MoJoJoJo,
ocfan,
offcutter,
pakistanigoneaussie,
Poutine,
QalandarFan,
Raja Danish,
Rayyman,
RehanG,
RobinJay,
sadida97,
saeed5646,
Salman,
Sarfarazian92,
SarfiBabarHaris,
Square Drive,
TheSaint,
Ultimate,
Varun,
Waseem

 

[CricFan2012]

These posters have predicted correctly:

Abdullah719,
ahmedwaqas92,
aliasad1998,
anakwalajinn,
Arsalan Pro,
Aviator,
Azlan Khan,
Badboy_1,
basitmian,
bilalmasaud,
Dr_Bassim,
Farhansk,
hafizexpress,
Hamza78,
Justcrazy,
KhalidRafi,
KhanPredator,
KyoOne,
Maaz Ahmed,
MoJoJoJo,
ocfan,
offcutter,
pakistanigoneaussie,
Poutine,
QalandarFan,
Raja Danish,
Rayyman,
RehanG,
RobinJay,
sadida97,
saeed5646,
Salman,
Sarfarazian92,
SarfiBabarHaris,
Square Drive,
TheSaint,
Ultimate,
Varun,
Waseem

Add CricFan2012 to that bro

 

[Justcrazy]

These posters have predicted correctly:

Abdullah719,
ahmedwaqas92,
aliasad1998,
anakwalajinn,
Arsalan Pro,
Aviator,
Azlan Khan,
Badboy_1,
basitmian,
bilalmasaud,
Dr_Bassim,
Farhansk,
hafizexpress,
Hamza78,
Justcrazy,
KhalidRafi,
KhanPredator,
KyoOne,
Maaz Ahmed,
MoJoJoJo,
ocfan,
offcutter,
pakistanigoneaussie,
Poutine,
QalandarFan,
Raja Danish,
Rayyman,
RehanG,
RobinJay,
sadida97,
saeed5646,
Salman,
Sarfarazian92,
SarfiBabarHaris,
Square Drive,
TheSaint,
Ultimate,
Varun,
Waseem

Finally made it

 

[msb314]

Pakistan will steamroll anyone who comes in their way, led by our dynamic openers

Yeh baat!

Good call!