Harbijan Steers India Home

The ICC Champion’s Trophy proper has started in earnest following a very odd preliminary stage held over six matches last week, which saw West Indies and Sri Lanka qualify for this eight-team, two-group tournament.� It is not surprising that there isn’t a great deal of passion for this mini-World Cup as the structure and even purpose of it doesn’t seem to have been thought up with anything approaching common sense.� Host nation, India, got their campaign underway yesterday with a fairly straightforward victory over England. After being put in to bat, England were soon 15-3 after the “Flintoff batting at three” strategy had not been as successful as planned.� A little hope in middle order was soon lost as England’s one-day team self-destructed again.� A paltry 125 all out was posted.� India set about their target at 100 miles an hour getting to 50-1 in no time thanks largely to some wayward Harmison bowling early on.� A bit of character was on show after the break though, as England took a few wickets to leave India victorious by a mere 4 wickets.� However, consistency is the key and giving some of the younger guys (Dalrymple, Yardy and Mahmood) the experience is what is now required. 125 a.o. may look a bit shocking but let the same guys come out and try and make up for it next time (It’s only Australia, so won’t be a problem ).

The big news this morning though is the fact that Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Asif have been sent home from the tournament by the PCB for failing drugs tests.� Drugs are very rarely mentioned in relation to cricket and I cannot recall many other sutuations, so this one is going to cause a big furore.� Not exactly what Pakistani cricket needed after being accused of cheating in the infamous ball tampering incident in the summer, and with Inzamum already out on suspension it’s going to very difficult for the side as they take on the in-form Sri Lankans tomorrow.

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Tags: Andrew-Flintoff, Champions-Trophy, Drug-Testing, England, ICC, India, Mohammed-Asif, Pakistan, Shoaib-Akhtar, Sport, Steve-Harmison