India v England

	Shikhar Dhawan was named player of the tournament and won the golden bat © AFP Enlarge
Related Links Tour and tournament reports : ICC Champions Trophy, 2013 Matches: England v India at Birmingham Series/Tournaments: ICC Champions Trophy Teams: England | India

At Birmingham, June 23. India won by five runs. Toss: England.
As rain battered Birmingham and spectators cursed the absence of a reserve day, it seemed England would finally be able to lay some sort of claim to their first global one-day silverware - even if it meant sharing the Champions Trophy with India. Eventually, though, the weather relented, allowing a 20-over-a-side match to start at 4.20, with the close extended by an hour until 8.30. And in the 18th over of their chase, England found themselves staring at outright victory. With 16 balls to go, six wickets in hand, and Morgan and Bopara getting to grips with a slow turner apparently designed for Indian needs, they required 20 runs. Ishant Sharma, meanwhile, had lost his radar.

Pulled over fine leg for six by Morgan, he responded with successive off-side wides, the second of them barely locating the cut strip. Kohli later admitted India had very nearly given up. But now England lost their heads. Morgan failed to clear the leg-side infield after half-connecting with an ugly smear, and Bopara pulled the next ball to square leg, prompting an even uglier send-off from a pumped-up Sharma. Stunned, England now wanted 19 off two overs, but the new batsmen had no time to gauge the pace of the pitch - or rather the lack of it. Buttler was bowled trying to hit Jadeja back over his head, and Bresnan run out as panic took hold. In eight balls, England had surrendered four for three.

Broad swung Ashwin to the square-leg fence to reduce the equation to 11 off four deliveries, but Tredwell never looked likely to hit the six demanded from the final ball. For the fifth time out of five following the World Cups of 1979, 1987 and 1992, and the 2004 Champions Trophy - England had fallen at the last. By contrast India's fans - who so comfortably outnumbered their English counterparts that the home players were booed when the teams were read out - could now celebrate a hat-trick of triumphs under the calm leadership of Dhoni, following the 2007 World Twenty20 and the 2011 World Cup.

When Dhoni carved Bopara into the hands of Tredwell at third man - part of an unlikely double wicket maiden that also accounted for Raina - India were 66 for five after 13 overs, and going nowhere. But Kohli and the utility man Jadeja added 47 in 33 balls, and Jadeja further boosted Indian spirits by taking eight off the last two deliveries of the innings, from Bresnan.

That meant England were chasing 130, a modest total in theory but - on a quickly drying pitch and with the record books there for the rewriting - rather tougher in practice. Cook went early, steering Yadav to first slip, before the in-form Trott overbalanced and was smartly stumped off Ashwin's leg-side wide. Then, after Root had skied to fine leg, a moment of controversy: Dhoni appealed for another stumping, this time against Bell, and third umpire Bruce Oxenford pored over replays. He eventually concluded Bell had to go, though how he divined this from the evidence available was not immediately clear. An incensed Cook later criticised the decision. From 46 for four, Morgan rebuilt with Bopara. They were careful at first against the turning ball, before hitting out when Dhoni returned to Sharma with 59 required off six overs.

He went for 11, and was removed from the attack, before improbably returning with three overs to go and 28 wanted. Briefly, it looked like a move that would cost India the match. But Sharma pulled himself together - and England, as if frozen in history's headlights, disintegrated.
Man of the Match: R. A. Jadeja. Attendance: 22,824.
Man of the Tournament: S. Dhawan.