23rd June 2013 is a day which no Indian can forget. It was the day when India won Champions Trophy, which happened to be the last ICC title for India. The wait for another one continues till thia date. Therefore, it's a dilemma for Indians as they should celebrate the day for the CT13 victory, or should feel the agony that never again they got to witness the joy. Therefore, we can just look back to ICC trophy winning teams and compare to what is happening today.

Let's rewind firstly to the 2013 Champions Trophy triumph. Like most of the ICC tournaments post then, India was undefeated in the tournament. Captain cool, the most successful captain of India MS Dhoni was leading the team. And every member contributed to the team's cause, with Shikhar Dhawan contributing most with the bat, Ravindra Jadeja proving his 3-dimensional prowess, and Ishant Sharma and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar being the best bowlers for India.

Now if we look into the squad of the tournament, the first thing is the team was not changed for most of the matches. Having spoken of Shikhar Dhawan and Ravindra Jadeja, it is important to know the importance of having left handers. Having 3 left handers in batting line-up, with the above mentioned two and Suresh Raina, didn't make the batting 1-dimensional. It is evident from 2007 T20 and 2011 world cup squads as well, when Gautam Gambhir , Irfan Pathan were in the squad. Having a left hander who can contribute in the top , help the team's cause and makes it difficult for opponents. And exactly the same thing has been missing in the squads post 2019.

Secondly , the squad of 2013 CT had the perfect balance of youth and experienced (who were not a liability). The average age of the squad members was around 26. Squad comprised of members like Virat, Ashwin, Ishant , Rohit , who had around 4-5 yrs of experience, along with Dhawan, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Jadeja who were comparatively less experienced , but of the same age as the above. And finally Irfan, Dinesh Karthik, Raina, MS Dhoni, who had a lot of experience were in the squad. This perfect blend of youth, and experience , with a calm head of Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the leader made the squad a perfect one. Unlike the squads now who hardly have couple of young guys, filled with a squad of experienced guys, some of whom are liabilities.

Furthermore, the tournament was such where the team had everyone contributing to the team's cause. Men in blue had different match winners in different games. And when the team is not dependent on 1 or 2 guys, it is evident that someone or the other will step up in every match, including the knockouts resulting in title victories. What also aided the team's cause what the team had extremely strong and deep bonding, which reflected in the way they played. Unlike a bunch of colleagues playing now, as mentioned by Ravichandran Ashwin. The former case makes team stronger even if it doesn't appear on paper, and the later case the team may have the most dominant names, but will still fail to perform.

In addition to all these factors, the final and the most important factor is the fact that international calender those days was little less busier than what it is today. The poor scheduling of IPL is harming the team members. Earlier the IPL was scheduled keeping in mind of the international fixtures. Now international fixtures of the team revolve around the richest league in the world, and unfortunately the richest board cares more about minting money than focusing on country's performance.

All these factors, which were significantly different from the ICC events post 2013 are heavily costing the team their game. Otherwise the team having most success between 2007-2013 was the clear favourites for most of these events. MS Dhoni had a wonderful reign as captain, but only captain doesn't decide the fate of the events. For instance 2014, 2016 T20 world cups and 2015 odi world cup was when India again had MS Dhoni as the skipper, yet the team didn't clinch on to the title back then, in spite of Dhoni heavily focusing on ICC events. Hence , India , one of the most successful teams is consistently reaching in the knockouts of ICC events and failing in them.

And now it's been a decade. A period of 10 years has gone, since India is trophyless. It's been 10 years to the moment , when Dhoni led India won the Champions Trophy. A moment which India will not forget. A rare moment, when even Dhoni celebrated the victory by jumping on the last ball like a kid. A moment when , yet again in 6 years from 2007 to 2013, Indians rejoiced as the world watched. And the moment that still gives us smile even after 10 years, and continues to give us hope that one fine day when all the above mentioned factors are taken into consideration, Indians will be able to smile with joy again.