Indian cricket team led by Virat Kohli go into the coveted ICC Champion Trophy with a quest to defend its title it won in 2013, in the soil of England. Today, this team is going to start their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan in what is pitted to be a potboiler. India have won both their warm-up matches leading up to the main event. Virat Kohli, the current captain of the Indian cricket team believes they have ticked all the boxes going into their opener at the big ICC event. The bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav have been in devastating form. It also seems that Ravichandran Ashwin has a new weapon up his sleeve, a ball that goes away from the right hander.
All said and done, it seems Rohit Sharma will open the batting with an in-form Shikhar Dhawan. This is a potent opening pair. Virat Kohli, for certain will play no.3. Well, but now the conundrum begins at number four as India are facing a problem of plenty which is ideal for any team. This Indian team has a whopping five to six contenders who can push for the number four spot.
So, let us look at the contenders:
Yuvraj Singh: If everything goes according to predictions, Yuvraj Singh will bat at this spot, he feels more at home playing two-down. That is the spot from where he can set himself up for the finishing kick towards the end.
Kedar Jadhav: The pint-sized dynamo has been in good form and has been carrying his decent run from the IPL ans even in the warm-up games he showed good touch and that makes him another contender for the number 4 spot as he can change gears at will and keeps the scoreboard ticking.
Dinesh Karthik: In and out of the Indian team, he showed that he has the technique to counter any opposition and in England he has a healthy record and was also a part of the winning squad last time round when we were playing this very tournament and that is what makes his case strong as well.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni: They keep saying that number four is the best spot for MSD, who like Yuvraj Singh likes to set it up for the final onslaught. MSD has been most successful at this number. Remember 2011 World Cup Finals? And now with the monkey off his back, we could very well see MSD assigned a new role for this Indian team which is looking to defend its title.
