“India is hot favourites to lift the Champions Trophy and there is hardly any doubt it,” says the Former England Captain Michael Vaughan. He feels that Indian team has been far more consistent with their performance and the amount of confidence they carry makes them a treat to watch especially on the field. He rates this team as a much better than World Cup winning team.
Vaughan was quoted by Indian Express saying, "India have been the team of the tournament so far. They are a fearless, aggressive bunch and I have not seen that from India before. This team is better than the World Cup-winning side in 2011.”
He accoladed the efforts of Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja, who have raised the bar of fielding, especially when it comes to ground fielding. "The young players play with freedom. They know this is their chance to create a legacy as now the great names have retired. They field brilliantly, creating chances for the bowlers through agility," he added.
Shikhar Dhawan has been the star of the tournament and after his first century he was appraised by the English Media as the next big thing in Indian Cricket. Vaughan was impressed by the Dhawan, who has been playing the short ball really well and he was quoted by Daily Telegraph saying, "With the bat, they look to score off the short ball instead of swaying out the way of it. They hit the ball as hard as any Indian players I have ever seen. They play good, hard strokes you see in Test cricket and it looks as if Duncan Fletcher is loving working with them."
But the former right-handed batsman feels that this is the best chance for English team to clinch the glittering trophy. He was quoted by DNA saying, "This is a great chance for England to create history and win a global 50-over tournament. We reached the final of the Champions Trophy in 2004 but could not quite get over the line. But this team can go one better."
He added, "They (England) are a stronger one-day side than we were but that is cancelled out by the fact they are playing an India side better than the West Indies team who beat us nine years ago (2004)."