Former Indian coach Lalchand Rajput has backed India to win the ongoing Champions Trophy. India has won their opening two matches and they are ticking the right boxes in the eight-team tournament.
The Men in Blue registered a six-wicket win against Bangladesh in their opening game at Dubai whereas they bested arch-rivals Pakistan by six wickets at the same venue.
While India fluffed three chances against Bangladesh, they were more clinical against Pakistan in their second game. The team has come up with a collective effort and they have sealed their semifinals berth. Earlier, India also registered a 3-0 series win against England while playing at home.
Lalchand Rajput told PTI, “This Indian team looks ruthless. They try to dominate and win every game. They don’t want to give the opponents a chance to come back into the game. That is the attitude. And the way they are playing, I think they should win the Champions Trophy convincingly.”
On the other hand, Virat Kohli scored a match-winning knock of 100* runs off 111 balls against Pakistan in the run-chase of 242. Kohli batted at his absolute best and he was able to hit the ground running with well-timed cover-drives. Rajput hailed Virat Kohli’s big match temperament after he scored his 51st ODI century. Kohli also became the fastest to reach 14000 runs in ODI format.
He added, “I think Virat played a fantastic innings, you know, and he showed his class. We always think of King Kohli, I think he proved again. Big match, big match temperament. Big match player.”
India had made it to the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy but suffered a huge loss of 180 runs against arch-rivals Pakistan. Rohit Sharma’s team will next take on New Zealand at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai on 2nd March.
