The last edition of the Champions Trophy was played way back in 2013 in England. It released a plethora of new players into the world of cricket, had an Indo-Pak clash, and the pitches turned a surprising amount.
Most of the teams at that stage were young and fresh, whether it was India, Australia, or England or any other team. India had just lost legends like Tendulkar, Sehwag, Gambhir etc. The same went for Australia, which had lost players like Ricky Pointing. Sri Lanka still had their legends, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, but most other teams were relatively young.
A lot of that remains the same between these two tournaments: the Indo-Pak clash is still going to happen. The tournament will once again take place in England. Players like Kohli, Root, Ashwin, Jadeja, Dhoni, Dhawan and Rohit are still going to play. The number of teams participating will remain the same. But there is a lot that has changed.
The biggest might be that MS Dhoni will be playing as a normal player under the captaincy of Virat Kohli, rather than playing as captain himself. This might be the biggest and the most unforeseen change that has taken place. Who would have ever thought that Dhoni would play as a normal player under someone else as captain during his time in international cricket? It was never expected, yet it happened.
Another shocking change that we get to see is Eoin Morgan, originally playing for Ireland, lead the English side into the tournament instead of Alastair Cook who did the same in the last edition. Cook was meant to be the next big thing in English cricket, but sadly he couldn’t carry his performances in the Test format into the shorter formats. Morgan is now leading the side extremely well with a new pool of young players.
George Bailey was a big deal back in 2012 and 2013. He was the guy always smiling on the field and performing like a superman in the ODI format. He seemed to have a promising ODI career, but it didn’t turn out in his favor as a dip in his performances led to his exclusion from the team. There was a time when he captained the Australian team and produced match winning performances, but that burden has now fallen on the Steve Smith’s shoulders. Smith has been carrying the burden like it’s the weight of a feather.
There are many more players who are missing the Champions Trophy this year. There will be no Gayle Storm in the upcoming months. Sadly, the weather is going to be clear. Brendon McCullum, the great Baz, has retired from international cricket, as have veterans Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. Misbah-ul-Haq will also not be a part of this edition of the Champions Trophy and who can forget one of Australia’s finest all-rounders, Shane Watson?
All these players who we’ll be missing in the upcoming Champions trophy were some of the finest players that cricket has ever produced. Each one of them holds a unique record to their names. Chris Gayle is a legend in his own right. Misbah, Mahela, Sangakkara, Bazz and Shane Watson left their marks on this beautiful game in their own unique way.
But the next generation will always surpass the previous one. It is part of the never-ending cycle of life.
This year’s Champions Trophy will see many new faces. A lot of those young and fresh faces of the Champions Trophy of 2013 have grown up into great leaders and valuable assets for their teams.
Four years is a long time. It brings a lot of changes that can never be predicted beforehand, but they eventually happen.
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