Cold weather and cold cuts. Come to think of England and lack of enough warmth (sic) is among the first things that come to mind. For most part of the year, rain - that only worsens this interminable climate rules and grey skies lend to perennial gloom.
It is for this reason that the arrival of the month of June marks the beginning of a season that the English tend to look most forward to - the summer. No freak hailstorms, no perpetual wetness, no unrelenting chill.
Summer - one that prolongs daylight towards the evening - marks the beginning of England's cricket season too. Cricketers generally warm up to the idea of the ball slapping their hands. Summer makes beer flow with the joy of watching sport in the Queens' country like no other season.
The start of the summer is also when India's otherwise discernible karmic connection with England begins to include sport (read: cricket).
NatWest 2002: Sourav Ganguly
(centre) holds the winners trophy with
Mohammad Kaif (R) and Yuraj Singh (L) following their series win over England. (Getty Images)
Be it the World Cup of 1983, the NatWest thriller in 2002 or the
Champions Trophy in 2013 - they've all come India's way in the early half of the English summer. The 50-over format, played under the sun, is where India have found most of their success on English soil. Rid of damp pitches, the grass drier and with the wind behaving relatively better, the white Kookaburra doesn't quite create the kind of havoc as does the red Dukes in England.
The 2013 Champions Trophy performance that India dished out, before going on to win the tournament with a dominating performance, is the most recent case in point.
The white Kookaburra - from the point of release to it reaching the batsman - makes straight lines and not the kind of banana curves that batsmen often get terrified of in England. Generally accustomed to better use of feet and being in just the kind of touch you need to be in for success in shorter formats, India won easily the last time.
Champions Trophy 2013: (L-R) 'Player of the Tournament' Shikhar Dhawan, India captain MS Dhoni and 'Man of the Match' Ravindra Jadeja pose with their respective trophies. (Getty Images)Back in 2013, there was rain in patches, no doubt. The match between India and Pakistan almost got washed away. The final too was a heavily curtailed one. Yet, thanks to the hovercraft and some excellent rain cover pitch protection, matches were completed despite interruption.
Dryness works for Indian cricketers anywhere in the world. The ball stays low. Come to think of it, New Zealand - a team that should typically enjoy English conditions the most - ended up using a minimum of two and a maximum of three spinners in each game that Champions Trophy.
Seam friendly England? It didn't appear so, when an in form Shikhar Dhawan topped the score charts with 363 runs from five innings, two hundreds and a halfcentury included.
Nasser Hussain, doing commentary in Cardiff when Dhawan took South Africa to the cleaners early in the tournament, had no doubts whatsoever that MS Dhoni & Co. were the side to beat.
"In Jadeja, Rohit and Shikhar, India's got just the kind of strength that's going to work here," he said.
Champagne Moment: India's players celebrate with the ICC Champions Trophy (Getty Images)He was right. Jadeja ended up becoming the tournament's MVP while
Rohit Sharma ended up becoming the fourth highest scorer after Dhawan, Trott and the immensely experienced Kumar Sangakkara. Farokh Engineer, an Indian who's more English than most at cricket, believes "the summer works for India perfectly. It's just the kind of conditions they enjoy. Tell me, coming from India, who wouldn't enjoy the English summer. It's lovely playing cricket here," he says.
Engineer, 79 now, was still in his 40s, only seven years post his retirement from First Class cricket at Lancashire, when India gloriously won the World Cup in 1983. "Even back then, we had the players who could match teams like the West Indies in charisma. Kapil, Jimmy (Amarnath), Sri (Srikkanth) - they were go-getters," Engineer recollects.
England, favourites at the 2013 Champions Trophy by way of being the hosts and familiar than most with the conditions at play, fell short of that one aspect India was relatively successful at. They waited to score. India scored.
Rohit simplified this further: The Indian batsmen kept finding the gaps. They played free, played on the rise, played in the air. Most others typically avoided risks.
Hussain's commentary, in fact, took a typically English view of the proceedings. "Credit to the IPL," remarked the former England captain.
Even in 2002, when Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and Mohd Kaif helped India chase a record total to win the NatWest Trophy, the relentless pursuit of 326 runs batting second was made possible thanks to a free-spirited display of stroke-making. Sourav Ganguly waving that jersey from the Lord's balcony ended up becoming the bigger picture of a side's mental framework that didn't care much for stated beliefs.
With
Virat Kohli at the helm of affairs, it's once again the kind of mindset India will most likely carry when they begin their stint this Champions Trophy with a highly anticipated clash against Pakistan.
The undertones of the controversial cricketing weather in India notwithstanding, the defending champions will once again find the beginning of the English summer offering them the kind of warmth needed.
With the past to seek inspiration from, it won't be a surprise if India end up doing well in England once again.
WHEN INDIA RULED IN ENGLAND2013 CHAMPIONS TROPHY: India won all their four matches in the tournament, including the final. Two wins came chasing while two defending the total - a cricketing equilibrium of sorts that showcased India's complete domination.
SHIKHAR DHAWAN: The left-handed opener was the highest scorer at the tournament with 363 runs in five innings, a highest of 114, two centuries and a half-century.
RAVINDRA JADEJA: Tournament's MVP, the Saurashtra lad made the edition his own - to a certain extent with the bat, to a large extent with the ball but to an unimaginable extent with his mindset and temperament. Jadeja picked 12 wickets in five matches, not to forget his outstanding fielding in the covers and catches that changed the course of a game more than once.
2002 NATWEST TROPHY: Not until the final - one that India claimed with a historic chase of 326 runs - could one have doubted that Sourav Ganguly's side wouldn't end up winning the series. That was the kind of form India were in and it would only mark the beginning of a run that changed the mental framework of a side labelled 'poor tourists'.
MOHAMMAD KAIF: 87 runs off 75 balls, six fours and two sixes, a strike rate of 115.38 and a 121-run stand with Yuvraj Singh for the sixth wicket. Kaif played the kind of role in the final that was chiefly responsible for Ganguly's jersey-waving daredevilry at the Lord's. Ganguly himself was a contributor with a crisp 60 off just 43 balls and so was the dynamic Yuvraj Singh, scoring 69 from 63. Yet, it was Kaif coming in at No. 6 that changed the equation for India against a bowling attack that included Gough, Tudor, Flintoff, Giles and Collingwood.
RAHUL DRAVID: With Sourav Ganguly handing him the gloves - wicket-keeper's, of course - Dravid transformed from a batting machine to a far more rounded contributor that made an unquestionable difference to India's combination of an eleven. Dravid scored 245 runs from six innings but that wasn't the only factor that underlined his contribution. Four catches, a stumping, and monitoring the field from behind the wicket, he marshalled India's resources as Ganguly became the face of a side that dominated all ends.
1983 WORLD CUP: It was a fluke, they claimed, when India defended a low target to send the West Indies and the world of cricket into shock, and lifted the World Cup. The win changed the destiny of Indian cricket, changed the course of the game forever, and brought an end to many a historical connotation that cricket had blossomed under until then. To say that it was the World Cup that changed cricket forever would be an understatement.
MOHINDER AMARNATH: That unforgetful grin writ large on his face as he grabbed the stump and ran through a sea of people hovering from all corners of the stadium is now the stuff of dreams. Kapil Dev proudly held the trophy at Lord's but it was Amarnath's workmanlike bating and the underrated, uncanny ability to bowl tight spells that worked the magic for India. Of course, the unlikely heroes scripted a shocker of a success and it was this man's all-round performance that topped the charts back then.
KAPIL DEV: That backward run for close to 20 yards, when he kept his eyes only on a ball that was hit towards deep mid-wicket boundary, and ran to pouch the catch of the tournament. That catch brought an end to the batting of the dangerous Vivian Richards, who looked like having made up his mind to single-handedly give the West Indies what they deserved. That tournament saw several other memorable performances, Sandhu's inswinger to Gordon Greenidge among them. But Kapil's catch will remain etched in memory for a very long time.
Catch Manika Batra's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 3. Watch Here!