While MS Dhoni-led India won the ICC Champions Trophy 2013, the Indian spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin were the heroes of the Indian team in the final. Recently, Ashwin revealed one of the master plans during that tournament final which helped the off-spinner to dismiss the in-form English cricketer Jonathan Trott cheaply.
India were the unbeaten champions in that tournament, which was India’s first complete ICC Champions Trophy victory (Sourav Ganguly-led India were the joint-winners with the hosts Sri Lanka in the ICC Champions Trophy 2002). However, the rain-interrupted final match against the hosts England was probably the hardest game for the Indian team in that entire tournament.
After India were restricted to 129/7 (20 overs), England also got the nervy start as their top-order batsmen lost their wickets at the very early stage, mostly thanks to the Indian spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
In the sixth over of the second innings, when Ashwin was bowling his first over, Jonathan Trott was stumped out for 20 runs (17 balls). Trott finished that tournament as the second most run-scorer as the right-handed batsman scored 229 runs in five matches (average 57.25), including two half-centuries. Talking about that in-form batsman’s wicket, Ashwin recently credited his captain, MS Dhoni.
Jonathan Trott st MS Dhoni b Ravichandran Ashwin
Dhoni advised Ashwin to bowl round the stumps against Trott and avoid the over the stumps. According to the captain, Trott could be stumped out from that angle if the ball turns. Well, it exactly happened in that game and smart Dhoni comfortably stumped the in-form English batsman.
Ashwin told Suresh Raina during the recent live session, “Trott got stumped off the first over that I bowled. I still remember Mahi bhai came up to me and said ‘Trott ko over the stump se mat daalna, sirf round se daalna. Woh leg side mein khelne jaayega, agar ball ghoomega to stumping ho jaayega’. Mujhe abhi bhi dimag mai nahi chal raha hai ki kaise bola waisa.”
India restricted England to 124/8 (20 overs) and won that thrilling match by five runs. Ashwin (2/15), Jadeja (2/24) and the right-arm pacer Ishant Sharma (2/36) took two wickets each in that game. Jadeja won the Player of the Match award for his brilliant all-round performances (33 not out off 25 balls; 4-0-24-2).
After that victory, Dhoni became the first captain to win three different ICC trophies (ICC World T20 2007, ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and ICC Champions Trophy 2013).