India Clinched Australia & Reclaimed ICC Test Mace

Team India ended their home season with a eight wicket series win over Australia at Dharamsala. Virat Kohli-led side beat New Zealand, England and Bangladesh before hosting Australia.

Team India with Border-Gavaskar Trophy 

 The Aussies are formidable opponents. They are proud and professional and they play hard. For the Aussies, only winning matters. Everything else is a waste of time. But this series saw a dramatic role reversal, with India trumping the Aussies. It’s been a fiery month, both on and off the field, it was produced riveting cricket, with players pushing the boundaries to get ahead of each other. In this tussle, harsh words were exchanged, allegations and accusations were hurled and charges were made, starting with the infamous Aussie Sikkper Smith's "Brain Fade" moment when he was seeking clue for DRS.

    Kohli’s Indian team is more settled, sorted and successful than teams before it. The core group has excellent work ethic and on the bench sits genuine quality, ready to step in if an opportunity was to present itself. 

India retained the ICC Test Championship mace and also won a cash award of USD one million for holding on to the top position in the Test Team rankings on the annual April 1 cut-off date.

S Gavaskar presenting ICC test mace to V Kohli

      At the end of what has been a gruelling season, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that Umesh Yadav has mastered the difficult skill of picking up wickets on sub-continent pitches.

Series Result: 

                              1. Ind v Aus, Pune 

                                   - Aus won by 333 runs.

                              2. Ind v Aus, Bengaluru

                                   - Ind won by 75 runs.

                              3. Ind v Aus, Ranchi

                                   - Match Drawn.

                              4. Ind v Aus,  Dharamshala

                                   - Ind won by 8 wickets. 

Photos: 

Ashwin won the ICC Cricketer of the Year & Test Cricketer of the year award

Indian Players with trophies

Indian Captains v/s all other opponents

Jadeja with Man of the Match & Series awards

  Stats:

            - Jadeja has hit 21 sixes, most by anyone in 2016-17. Bhajji hit 17 sixes 2010-11. 

            - Jadeja became the third player to take 50+ wickets & 500+ runs in a season.                                    Kapil Dev and Mitchell Johnson are the other two to achieve the feat.

            - Jadeja is now the 24th player to score 3000 runs and pick 300 wickets in international                  cricket. He is the fourth Indian to do so. 

            - India became the third nation to win Test series against all their opponents at the same                point of time. Others are Aus(2004-05 & 2006-07), S Africa(2012-13). 

            - Since 2008, India now have been won 4 consecutive test series vs Aus, a rare                              disntiction. 

            - For the first time, India have won seven consecutive Test series – from 2015 till date. 

            - It was Pujara's first duck at home, 3rd over all.

            - It's the fourth time India have come back to win the series after losing the first Test.

            - Pujara, 32nd player who faced 525 or more balls in an innings. 

On a funny note, Virender Sehwag, who is also known for witty side, gave out the #ViruGhareluAwards. In his ‘awards’, he awarded following 'titles’ to players from both the Indian and Australian teams :

        Viart Kohli -Holder, 

        Steven Smith -Tubelight, 

        Pujara -Inverter, 

       Jadeja -TulluPump, 

       KL Rahul -Stabilizer,

       Ashwin, Rahane- Desert Coolers.

Kumble's Haul of Fame on 7 Feb'99

Any sporting record that lasts over 40 years has got to be very very special -- and the effort that equals it, or tops it, has to be applauded to the rooftops.

Today, it was Anil Kumble whose name rings from the rafters -- an analysis that reads 26.3-9-74-10 being the reason why.
On February 7, 1999, Anil Kumble took all the 10 Pakistan wickets in the second Test at the Feroz shah Kotla, in New Delhi and in the process he wrote his name into the annals of cricket folklore and history. Kumble emulated Englishman Jim Laker's feat, finishing with 10-74 from 26.3 overs against Pakistan. The feat was made all the more special since as it was against arch-rival Pakistan, and that too the Test series was the first on Indian soil between the two teams in 12 years.

Kumble's brilliance saw India crush Pakistan by 212 runs in the second Test in New Delhi and square the short two-match series.

500th Test Match: A Landmark for India

The Forthcoming Test match between India and New Zealand at Kanpur is the test match number 500th for Indian Cricket team. It took more than eight decades to India to achieve the milestone. Also, The first test host ground, Green park at Kanpur is set to host its 499th test.

UPCA set to welcome team India for 500th test.

Credit: UPCA twitter handle

Team India have been played 499 test matches so far, in which 129 matches were won by them with 47% success rate and 157 lost and 212 were drawn.

     From 1932 to Sep 2016, a few major achievements of team India have been enumerated here. Where in 1932, India started to play test cricket. In 1999, veteran leg-spinner Anil Kumble who is now the chief coach of Indian team took 10 wickets in an innings with broken Jaw. In 2000, 'The wall' Rahul Dravid and wrist master VVS Laxman , together made a record shuttering partnership against Australia and Turbunator Harbhajan singh took a Hat-trick. In 2004, Sehwag best known for his attacking-batting-attitude, became the first Indian to make a triple century in a test and tagged as "Multan ka Sultan" after his compelling batting performance against Pakistan. In 2013, Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar called it a day from Test cricket after playing 200 test matches. The 200th test was against West Indies and in 2016, India set to play 500th test.

India's test cricket journey.

courtesy: Times of India(pic)

If we talk about the Captaincy, Some stats about the Indian test captains,

Without spinner one can't imagine the shape of test cricket. Spinners always make test cricket more interesting. Here are some greatest spinners from India,

     Moreover, to make the 500th test memorable, BCCI instructed the hotel in which both the teams stays  that it will serve 500 types of dishes to the players and management for all the five days according to the schedule.

Apart from this, Among those who will be present at Kanpur's Green Park Stadium are Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Ravi Shastri, Kris Srikkanth, Azharuddin, Anil Kumble, Kapil Dev, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag and MS Dhoni.
Good Luck TEAM INDIA for 500th test !