Team Combination

India will be coming into the tournament as favourites. This will be Virat Kohli’s first big competition as captain and as defending champions, India will be expected to go deep in the tournament. India’s squad is relatively unchanged from the previous Champions Trophy and includes the likes of Shikhar Dhawan and Ravindra Jadeja who were top run-scorer and leading wicket-taker respectively in 2013.

This is arguably India’s best limited overs bowling attack in recent history, with three out of four of India’s pace bowlers featuring in the IPL’s top ten wicket-takers. The reliable Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s place in the XI is likely to be under contention with Umesh Yadav’s pace and Jasprit Bumrah’s variations. Yet as leading wicket taker in the IPL, the selectors will have a hard time keeping Bhuvneshwar out, especially as he took three wickets in each of the the warm-up matches against New Zealand and Bangladesh.

India’s batting line-up is much more fixed. It’s so jam-packed with quality top-order batsmen and power-hitters that Ajinkya Rahane and Dinesh Karthik may struggle to find a spot in the starting XI even though Rohit Sharma has been unable to score and Karthik retired on 94 against Bangladesh today. India haven’t played an ODI since their series at home against England in January but they will feel confident with such an established team going into the competition. Their biggest potential issue may be a lack of confidence coming in from the IPL where only Dhawan made the list of top 10 run-scorers.

Shikhar Dhawan batting against Pakistan at Edgbaston (Champions Trophy 2013)

Opponents and Key Tactics

India will start their campaign in an eagerly anticipated game against Pakistan at Edgbaston, followed by games against Sri Lanka and South Africa respectively at the Kia Oval.

Pakistan
India hold a big psychological advantage over Pakistan when it comes to major competitions. They have dominated Pakistan in ICC events,  winning 11 out of 13 games, and playing off that could work to their advantage even though both wins for Pakistan came in Champions Trophy tournaments. India should aim to bat first – which would be good for Virat Kohli given his lack of form in the IPL as it would allow him to play without the added pressure of the required rate – and set a big total for Pakistan. Both Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar will play key roles in this game given the location, and if India can pick up a few early wickets they will be well on their way to the play-offs.

Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka are coming in as one of the least favoured sides. India should aim for a big win here, should qualification come down to net run rate, given that their third game will come against a strong South African side. Sri Lanka’s main issue is their brittle middle-order batting and India would do well to put pressure on them from the outset by bowling first. India will hopefully be confident after a win against Pakistan and with the likes of Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni, they should feel comfortable chasing down any score against this Sri Lankan attack and in particular Lasith Malinga, whose career ODI bowling average jumps from 27.77 to 42.28 against India, as they have done so many times before.

South Africa:
This will be India’s biggest challenge in the group stages. ICC’s number one  ranked ODI team have a strong and settled side. South Africa’s biggest weakness is the tournament itself. They have a history of poor chases and if India can set a big  total as they did in the 2015 World Cup they will have a huge advantage. The last thing India will want to do is allow Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers  and that explosive middle order free rein with the bat. South Africa’s bowling attack will be a big concern for India in early summer English conditions, especially if Kohli struggles to play off  his 4th and 5th stump, but if the top-order can find some rhythm in the first two games they will be in with a big chance.

Recent ODI performances:

India have had some close games against New Zealand and England with the most recent series going in their favour 3-2 and 2-1 respectively. However, both series were played in India and the last time India played outside of their home country was in August against the West Indies. This may be a problem for India given how early in the English season this tournament is.

The last time India played an ODI in England  was in 2014 where they won the series 3-1 with  some comprehensive wins. Kumar and Rahane did especially well in Edgbaston and Raina should feel unlucky given his IPL performance and success in 2014. Even though this was almost  three years ago, the visitors should feel comfortable coming into the tournament  having won their last series in the host country.

Ravindra Jadeja celebrates a wicket against England in the Champions Trophy 2013 Final at Edgbaston

Predicted outcome
Team India are serious contenders to defend their title. They have match-winning players and have a knack for ICC tournaments. If the team can find some momentum in the first game and can adjust to the conditions quickly they’ll be well on their way to their third title.

Probable XI

1. Rohit Sharma
2. Shikhar Dhawan
3. Virat Kohli (c)
4. Yuvraj Singh
5. MS Dhoni (wk)
6. Kedar Jadhav/Dinesh Karthik
7. Hardik Pandya
8. Ravindra Jadeja
9. Mohammed Shami/Bhuvneshwar Kumar
10.Jasprit Bumrah
11.Umesh Yadav

Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan; the heroes that Pakistan deserved, but no longer the ones it needs right now.

The curtain is finally coming down on the respective careers of Misbah and Younis. The men who have led Pakistan through thick and thin, through the few highs and the many lows of Pakistani cricket are finally bidding farewell. These two men have carried a nation on their shoulders for best part of the last decade. They have paid their dues and served their country with all their heart and soul.

Misbah was the light that shone in the darkness; the beacon that led Pakistani cricket to safe shores from dangerous waters. He took a team that no one else believed in and dragged them to the top. Misbah took Pakistan to the summit of Test cricket, to becoming the number one ranked team in the world. Could any other man have achieved the seemingly impossible? After being dropped aged 36, and having played just 19 Tests, he took over a nomadic team in 2010 from which Younis had been banned from playing, Shahid Afridi had been fined for biting into a cricket ball, and three players – including disgraced former captain Salman Butt – were serving time in prison for spot-fixing. In spite of this, Misbah brought them the Test mace.

Misbah put his team before anything else. His career tells the story of a man who put his nation before his own personal success. It was his duty to lead Pakistan and he did just that. He played whatever role they needed from smashing sixes to get Pakistan down to needing 6 off 4 in the 2007 T20 World Cup final to scoring consecutive 99s against the West Indies in his final Test series. He is the highest run-scorer in ODI cricket to have not made a century, having scored 5122 runs with a top score of 96*. The ageless man has made 37% of his Test runs since turning 40. In the last three years he has scored over a third of his career tally of runs and it looks as though he could go on if he wanted to.

It will be a severe shock to the system when not only Misbah leaves, but also the great Younis Khan. On April 23^rd, Younis made history as the oldest man and the first Pakistani to join the exclusive 10,000 Test runs club as only man to achieve this with more centuries than fifties. Since Saleem Altaf, Pakistan’s team manager, threatened to drop him in India in 2005 he has been a rock for Pakistan, and for the next decade Younis held a Test average of 60.41.

Younis holds a number of accolades, from being the only player to score the Grand Slam of centuries in the eleven countries that have held Test matches, to leading Pakistan to the T20 World Cup title in 2009 (achieved just weeks after Pakistani cricket had been devastated by the terror attacks in Lahore), but it’s his fourth innings runs that have made him so special to Pakistan. The rearguard specialist holds the most number of centuries in fourth-innings totals and has scored 1465 runs when chasing at an average of 50.52. His ability to not only absorb pressure but also thrive under it have made him invaluable to Pakistan, and he will be desperately missed not only by the players but by the fans too.

A new leader won’t change much for Pakistan. In fact they’re going to realise just how much they have relied on these two giants to get them where they are today. Pakistan don’t have it easy being a country that’s ‘home’ is away from home but they don’t help themselves. After their win against England in August at the Oval, only one player – Sami Aslam – played a first-class match before their next Test against the West Indies in October. As much as we like to imagine it, Pakistan are no fairytale team. They have their magical moments but have their flaws like everybody else. Now they will need to work harder than ever to fill the shoes of Misbah and Younis as they play their final farewell Test against the West Indies.

This article was first published on TimeChor: http://timechor.in/misbah-and-younis-is-it-really-time-to-say-goodbye/