IPL 2017 Full List

The IPL 2017 tournament has been started on 5th April in Hyderabad, while the final will be Palyed in the Hyderabad on 21st May.

► Here is the full list of matches of IPL 2017:



 Match 1: SRH vs RCB, April 5 2017, 8 PM

 Match 2: Rising Pune Supergiant vs Mumbai Indians, April 6 2017, 8 PM

 Match 3: Gujarat Lions vs KKR, April 7 2017, 8 PM

 Match 4: Kings XI Punjab vs Rising Pune Supergiant, April 8 2017, 4 PM

 Match 5: RCB vs Delhi Daredevils, April 8 2017, 8 PM

 Match 6: SRH vs Gujarat Lions, April 9 2017, 4 PM

 Match 7: Mumbai Indians vs KKR, April 9 2017, 8 PM

 Match 8: Kings XI Punjab vs RCB, April 10 2017, 8 PM

 Match 9: Rising Pune Supergiant vs Delhi Daredevils, April 11 2017, 8 PM

 Match 10: Mumbai Indians vs SRH, April 12 2017, 8 PM

 Match 11: KKR vs Kings XI Punjab, April 13 2017, 8 PM

 Match 12: RCB vs Mumbai Indians, April 14 2017, 4 PM

 Match 13: Gujarat Lions vs Rising Pune Supergiant, April 14 2017, 8 PM

 Match 14: KKR vs SRH, April 15 2017, 4 PM

 Match 15: Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab, April 15 2017, 8 PM

 Match 16: Mumbai Indians vs Gujarat Lions, April 16 2017, 4 PM

 Match 17: RCB vs Rising Pune Supergiant, April 16 2017, 8 PM

 Match 18: Delhi Daredevils vs KKR, April 17 2017, 4 PM

 Match 19: SRH vs Kings XI Punjab, April 17 2017, 8 PM

 Match 20: Gujarat Lions vs RCB, April 18 2017, 8 PM

 Match 21: SRH vs Delhi Daredevils, April 19 2017, 8 PM

 Match 22: Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians, April 20 2017, 8 PM

 Match 23: KKR vs Gujarat Lions, April 21 2017, 8 PM

 Match 24: Delhi Daredevils vs Mumbai Indians, April 22 2017, 4 PM

 Match 25: Rising Pune Supergiant vs SRH, April 22 2017, 8 PM

 Match 26: Gujarat Lions vs Kings XI Punjab, April 23 2017, 4 PM

 Match 27: KKR vs RCB, April 23 2017, 8 PM

 Match 28: Mumbai Indians vs Rising Pune Supergiant, April 24 2017, 8 PM

 Match 29: RCB vs SRH, April 25 2017, 8 PM

 Match 30: Rising Pune Supergiant vs KKR, April 26 2017, 8 PM

 Match 31: RCB vs Gujarat Lions, April 27 2017, 8 PM

 Match 32: KKR vs Delhi Daredevils, April 28 2017, 4 PM

 Match 33: Kings XI Punjab vs SRH, April 28 2017, 8 PM

 Match 34: Rising Pune Supergiant vs RCB, April 29 2017, 4 PM

 Match 35: Gujarat Lions vs Mumbai Indians, April 29 2017, 8 PM

 Match 36: Kings XI Punjab vs Delhi Daredevils, April 30 2017, 4 PM

 Match 37: SRH vs KKR, April 30 2017, 8 PM

 Match 38: Mumbia Indians vs RCB, May 1 2017, 4 PM

 Match 39: Rising Pune Supergiant vs Gujarat Lion, May 1 2017, 8 PM

 Match 40: Delhi Daredevils vs SRH, May 2 2017, 8 PM

 Match 41: KKR vs Rising Pune Supergiant, May 3 2017, 8 PM

 Match 42: Delhi Daredevils vs Gujarat Lions, May 4 2017, 8 PM

 Match 43: RCB vs Kings XI Punjab, May 5 2017, 8 PM

 Match 44: SRH vs Rising Pune Supergiant, May 6 2017, 4 PM

 Match 45: Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Daredevils, May 6 2017, 8 PM

 Match 46: RCB vs KKR, May 7 2017, 4 PM

 Match 47: Kings XI Punjab vs Gujarat Lions, May 7 2017, 8 PM

 Match 48: SRH vs Mumbai Indians, May 8 2017, 8 PM

 Match 49: Kings XI Punjab vs KKR, May 9 2017, 8 PM

 Match 50: Gujarat Lions vs Delhi Daredevils, May 10 2017, 8 PM

 Match 51: Mumbai Indians vs Kings XI Punjab, May 11 2017, 8 PM

 Match 52: Delhi Daredevlis vs Rising Pune Super Giant, May 12 2017, 8 PM

 Match 53: Gujarat Lions vs SRH, May 13 2017, 4 PM

 Match 54: KKR vs Mumbai Indians, May 13 2017, 8 PM

 Match 55: Rising Pune Supergiant vs Kings XI Punjab, May 14 2017, 4 PM

 Match 56: Delhi Daredevils vs RCB, May 15 2017, 8 PM

 1st Qualifier: May 16 2017, 8 PM

 Eliminator: May 17 2017, 8 PM

 2nd Qualifier: May 19 2017, 8 PM


 Final: May 21 2017, 8 PM

Extravaganza of IPL 2017 Starts off

The tenth season of the IPL is now underway with Hyderabad hosting the first of the eight ‘opening ceremonies’. Eight teams and many stars in this glamourous league but there may be no applause louder than when Indian cricket’s ‘Fab Four’ entered the arena for a special felicitation by the BCCI. Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag and local favourite VVS Laxman each were given mementos by members of the COA before the fanfare started.Virat Kohli and David Warner were ushered into the stadium on open jeeps with the captain of the defending champions’ side Warner carrying the trophy with him.

Excerpts:
Sachin Tendulkar: I cannot believe that the IPL has reached 10 years. This is a big achievement. When IPL was announced in 2007 I never thought the league would become so big.

VVS Laxman, Assistant coach - Sunrisers Hyderabad: The biggest gain from the IPL is for the uncapped players. The kind of exposure they get not just from Indian players but cricketers from around the globe.

Sourav Ganguly: It is phenomenal to see the effect IPL has had on cricket. I went to watch the FIFA World Cup some years back, and this is very close to that. The people it attracts is amazing.

Virender Sehwag, Head of Cricket Operations - KXIP: I think I played all three formats in the same way. I never changed my mindset, I tried to play and hit every ball in Tests or T20. I believe in one thing - if you play cricket, you should play to entertain people.

Images:

Bollywood actress Amy Jackson performed in the opening of IPL 2017.

Photo-op of Captains before kicking off IPL 2017 Edition

The 2017 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is going to kick off with the first game between Defending Champions Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore today.
The Title sponsor for this year is VIVO.

The captains, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, Steven Smith, Zaheer Khan, Gautam Gambhir, and Rohit Sharma pose with the trophy during the Vivo IPL 2017 Captain’s Meeting.

▶ Changes in captaincy -
Pune : S Smith
Punjab : G Maxwell

Scroll Down for the pictures:

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.

Virat Kohli gets out as HIT-WICKET

In a rare occasion, Indian test skipper Virat Kohli was become the victim of a kind of dismissal which is usually not seen everytime.

Virat Kohli gets hit wicket out, 2nd Indian skipper after Lala Amarnath

Today he got Hit-wicket out on the english spinner Rashid's ball when he was trying to pull the ball towards square of the wicket and his left foot disturbed the stumps and bails were dislodged. At that time, India were 361-5 and they had already been lost the wicket of Ajinkya Rahane.

In 2233 test, Virat kohli is the 22nd batsman to be out hit-wicket and 2nd Indian skipper after Lala Amarnath. The last batsman who suffered the fate was VVS Laxman that too 14 years ago.

DRS made its way to India

After the long wait of eight years, today Decision Review System aka DRS has been officially made its way to India which is being used in the current ongoing test series between India and England.

DRS officially launched in India

Though the system was first tested in an India vs Sri Lanka match in 2008 where Virender Sehwag became the first victim. It was officially launched by the International Cricket Council on 24 November 2009 during the first Test match between New Zealand and Pakistan.
Later in January 2011, it was first time used in ODI during England's tour of Australia.

DRS Procedure:

STEP-1: First of all, on field umpire refers a team's call to third umpire for the review and the third umpire has to check that whether the decision is given by the on field umpire is correct or not.

STEP-2: Then the third umpire check the front foot of the bowler to find whether the delivery was legal or not. If the ball is legal then umpire moves toward the batsman end and if this does not happen then it is called as NO Ball.

STEP-3: At the batsman end, umpire checks if there any edge produced or not or ball just hit directly onto the pad by ULTRA EDGE technology with help of SNICOMETER.

STEP-4: In the next step, Hawk-eye is also used to check the edge.

STEP-5: Now Ball tracking system comes into action which shows the trajectory and best possible path of the ball. Now a days this technology improves a lot as some time ago the path was being decided by the operator not automatically but now it is completely depend on different cameras that produce 340 frames per second to track everything which happening with the ball.

STEP-6: After seeing all this, the third umpire refers the decision back to either on field umpire or shows on the big screen.

This technology shows how difficult is umpiring. This is not an easy job. As even the decision is given with the help of DRS has to be finished within few minutes.

#OTD in 2001, Sehwag debuted in 'White Jersey'

His batting Style was completely different and unorthodox than others. That's why Sourav Ganguly, former captain of Indian side, said about him "He changed the definition of being an opener. "

Here is talking about none other than the fear of the bowlers, Virender Sehwag, the man who revolutionised the role of the opener in Test cricket. He was made his test debut on the very same day in 2001 against South Africa where he was batted on number 6th position and blasted a hundred in the debut match, India were lost that match by 9 wickets though but they have been found an star in that match.

Although, Viru has already been made his ODI debut back in 1999. seeing his batting style, he was only kept considering as an one-day player but later, Soon he broke that myth. The then coach John Wright and Indian Skipper Sourav Ganguly promoted him as an opener and he also did not let them disappoint as he made a quick 84 runs at Lords in 2002. That Innings cleared his batting position in the team.

He is the only triple centurion in Tests for India having scored career-best knock of 319 against Pakistan & also one of those rare batsmen to have scored two triple ton with his next one (309) coming against South Africa.


Here are the three of his best innings in Test cricket:

309, Multan, 2004: At Multan on March 29, 2004 Nawab of Najafgarh became first India to ever score a triple century. He scored a marvelous 309 against arch rivals Pakistan to set up India's first Test win in Pakistan. It was this Test match which gave Sehwag the nick name 'Multan ka Sultan'.

319, Chennai, 2008: With Virender Sehwag, it was all in or nothing. And he proved that against South Africa in Chennai on March 28, 2008 as he blasted the fastest Test triple-century, off 278 deliveries. Opposition coach Mickey Arthur termed it the 'best Test innings he has ever seen'. Crushing and grinding bowlers with his majestic batting it still remains the highest Test score by an Indian.

293, Mumbai, 2009: Sehwag who has scored and destroyed every bowler in the world tool the attack to the most successful Test bowler in this one -- Muttiah Muralitharan. Sehwag in this particular Test match had hit a total of 47 boundaries that included 40 fours and seven sixes. During this innings it broke a number of records - most double-centuries by an Indian, second-highest number of 250-plus scores and most runs by and Indian in a day. Victory also took India to No. 1 in the rankings.

In a glorious intl. career spanning over 12 years, the swashbuckling opener played 104 tests scoring 8586 runs at an impressive average of just a little over 49, including 23 Centuries and 32 fifties.

Now a days, like his batting form, the stalwart is busy in showing his funny bones on the mic and is buzzing all around specially among his fans.

FINALLY, I would say, I don't think there will be another Virender Sehwag.

Indian test Squad against England announced

The Board of Control for Cricket in India announced the 15-member squad in Mumbai for the first two test matches in a 5- matches Test series at home against England as the tour is beginning from November 9.

MSK Prasad, the chief of selectors, addressed a press conference in Mumbai and mentioned that they Preferred Hardik Pandya over anyone else even though he is not played that much FC cricket.

Stating Further he reckoned, "at one point of time we all have to agree that we need to identify good all-rounders. After the Australia A tour, his pace has increased, he's able to move the ball and his batsmanship has improved. Rahul Dravid has worked on his mind and techniques and now Anil kumble is guiding him which made me ahead of other contenders."

Delhi's Ranji team skipper Gautam Gambhir retained his spot in the squad as an opener after KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan failed to recover from their injuries. Karun Nayar has been taken in for Rohit sharma who is struggling from a hamstring problem. Pacer Ishant sharma also gets succeeded to make his comeback after an injury.
India are currently ranked No.1 in after thrashing New Zealand 3-0 at home last month. This series though is expected to be a stiffer test for the home side after England beat them 2-1 in 2012 on their previous tour.

India squad (for first two Tests): Virat Kohli (C), Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Karun Nair, Gautam Gambhir, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jayant Yadav.

India vs England 2016: Fixtures, schedule & More

India and England are going to play a crucial Test series beginning from November 9 in India which can prove to be another tough tour of the sub-continent for the English team. The english side is touring India after levelling the series by 1-1 against Bangladesh which they might soon want to be forgotten as their performance was proved disaster as they had too many loopholes in that series and now seeking to exhibit their winning-will.

Whilst India, which has been blanked New Zealand 3-0 in a three-match Test series last month at their own soil, will be felt high on confidence and will look to continue their series winning form against a struggling England side to improve their points in the points table as currently INDIA are the No.1 test side.

Players to be watched out:

1.Kohli - Anderson:
Kohli , who is now leading Indian test side , has been become the backbone of the side for last 3-4 years no matter whether that is a test, ODI or T-20. There is no doubt that he is among the top five batsmen like Williamson (NZ), Joe Root(Eng), Hashim Amla(SA) and Smith(Aus) of the cricket world at the current time while Anderson has been established himself as a first key of the english pace attack over the years. So it will interesting to see them playing against each-other.

2. Ashwin - Root:
When Joe Root, who is currently the best batsman in the english side, will face the Indian spin attack warrior Ashwin who is recently completed his 200 test wickets then that will be a perfect moment to see the battle between the ball and bat.

"The Indian team is to be picked in Mumbai tomorrow," BCCI sources told PTI on Tuesday.

The forthcoming tour will start from November 9 at Rajkot and will end at Chennai. That will be a 5-matches test series and 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is later in the year.

Fixtures:
 Test:-
1st Test: November 9-13
Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot (Play starts 0930 hrs IST)

2nd Test: November 17-21
Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Vizag (Play start 0930 hrs IST)

3rd Test: November 26-30
Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali (Play starts 0930 hrs IST)

4th Test: December 8-12
Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai (Play starts 0930 hrs IST)

5th Test: December 16-20
MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai (Play starts 0930 IST)

One-Day:-
1st ODI: January 15 – Pune
2nd ODI: January 19 – Cuttack
3rd ODI: January 22 – Kolkata

T-20I:-
1st T20I: January 26 – Kanpur
2nd T20I: January 29 – Nagpur
3rd T20I: February 1 – Bengaluru

India scavenged NZ in PayTm ODI series

When team India was playing its final ODI match of the Ind-NZ series on the eve of the biggest festival of Hindu nation, Deepawali, then everyone wanted that let India win this match and save its fortress against New Zealand at home. And happened the very same as India won the final ODI by 190 runs.

Summary of Vizag ODI:
After being reached on 2-2, the series now focused on FINAL ODI which had to play at the Eastern part of India, Vizag. Indian skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first with a change in his side as spinner Jayant Yadav made his  debut after receiving his ODI cap from Virender Sehwag.

Indian team made an steady start but Rahane again failed to capitalize his innings. Well, Rohit who was looking just ordinary with the bat till now, was in different league today and scored 70 runs before getting caught out. Dhoni (41) joined Kohli to keep the momentum going on, later Kedar Jadhav,  a golden-hand player of the series joined  Kohli to drive India's score further. Playing a big shot , kohli caught out at covers on his personal score of 65. Axar patel and Jadhav ensured to reach at 269/6 after 50 overs. In reply to 270, NZ's counter attack packed by India's spinners. With the ball turning and gripping, India's spinners had a better day at vizag. Mishra ripped through the batting with a 5-fer as the Kiwis had no idea to counter his spin variations. In the end, it was a no-contest. And India won the match by a huge margin of 190 runs  TO SEAL THE SERIES 3-2.
Leg spinner Amit Mishra awarded as Man of the match and Man of the Series for giving his fittest match winning performance throughout the series. He says that he is happy to contribute to the team's victory. 
Indian cricketers wore jerseys bearing their mother's names instead of their own in the final ODI against New Zealand at the ACA-VDCA Stadium, Vizag here on Saturday.

"Nayi Soch",  the first-of-its-kind initiative is part of a new campaign started by Star India in collaboration with BCCI to highlight the importance of mothers in our lives.

Paytm ODI series result:
Dharmshala ODI- Ind won by 6 wickets
Delhi ODI-     NZ won by 6 runs
Mohali ODI- Ind won by 7 wickets
Ranchi ODI- NZ won by 19 runs
Vizag ODI-    Ind won by 190 runs.

Stats:
 • Amit Mishra completed 50 wickets.
 • 15 Wickets taken by Amit Mishra in this series - the most by any bowler in a five-match ODI series.
 • India have been played 904 ODI so far, registered 457 wins.
 • VK completed 7500+ runs
 • MS Dhoni became the third wicketkeeper to score 9000 ODI runs.
 • Most 100s while chasing in ODI-
 - 17 Sachin (232 innings)
 - 16 Kohli (94 inn)

 • Most ODI 100s-
 - 49  Sachin
 - 30 Ponting
 - 28 Jayasuriya
 - 26 Kohli

 • Highest scores by Indians in odi chases
 - 183* MSD vs SL, 2005
 - 183 Kohli vs Pak, 2012
 - 175 Sachin vs Aus, 2009
 - 154 Kohli vs NZ , 2016

 • 23.1 Overs in which New Zealand were bowled out. It was their shortest ODI innings .

 • 4 Number of bilateral ODI series in which Kohli has scored 300 or more runs, which includes this series. It is the joint-most by any batsman. Rahul Dravid and Quinton de Kock have also amassed 300-plus runs in four bilateral series each.
 • Kohli's 358 runs in this series are the third-most by any batsman in a bilateral series against New Zealand and the best for India against New Zealand.

  The Kiwis have entertained for sure but India proved too good in the end.

Gambhir & Team India eye to make it large

Gautam Gambhir, the left-hand opener is all set to return in white jersey for the Indian side after a gap of two years who is now replacing KL Rahul for the remaining two tests.

Kohli and Gambhir during Net practice at Eden Gardens

KL Rahul has been ruled out from the current ongoing series after getting injured his hamstring during Kanpur test. Later, Gambhir, who has been in good form at the domestic level as he made four consecutive fifties in the Duleep Trophy with an average more than 70,  but he was ignored and is now prompted to represent the national side again.

Currently, India , which have been won its Kanpur test by 197 runs , which was also the 500th test for India, is now looking to have unassailable lead by winning the forthcoming test at Eden gardens, Kolkata. Apart from Gautam Gambhir, the 26-year-old Haryana off spinner-batsman Jayant Yadav is included in 15-members squad , who is in for unfit Ishant Sharma.

If talk about the pitch of Eden gardens,   Pacers may enjoy a good outing at there especially on the first two days as there is cover of green grass on it. Spinners may come into play on the third day.

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 !

Ind vs NZ Test Series: A Tale of Numbers

Cricket world's two strong teams, India and New Zealand's Test matches series is beginning from September 22, 2016.

The First Test of the three test match series is also going to set a Landmark Indian cricket history as it will be the 500th test match for Indian cricket team.

India vs NZ test series about to begin

According to the schedule, first test is going to start from 22 September at Green Park stadium, Kanpur. Second test, from 30 September at Eden gardens   Kolkata and third one from 8 October at Holkar cricket stadium, Indore. All these three test timings are 9:30 hours, Indian Standard Time.
    
     Besides three-match Test series against New Zealand, India will also play five-match ODI series, starting on October 16 at HPCA Stadium.

 IndvsNZ Test History:
        The first ever test played between India and new Zealand , was on 19th Nov 1955 at Hyderabad. And till yet, A total of 20 series have been played, in which India and new Zealand have been met 54 times where India brought most victories as 18 wins, 10 matches won by Kiwis and rest, 26  are resulted as Drawn.

Series - 20
Matches - 54
Most win- India (18)
Most runs - Dravid (1659)
Most wickets- Sir Hadlee (65)


Breaking News : In a major setback, Indian pace spearhead Ishant Sharma who claimed eight wickets at an average of 32.12 in the recently-concluded four Test matches against West Indies, with his best figures of 3 for 70 coming in the third Test in St Lucia, ruled out of Kanpur Test with Chikenguniya, a mosquito-borne viral infection. While confirming the news, India did not take any replacement of Ishant.

Rewind: Yuvraj's Six Sixes in T-20 WC on 19 Sep,2007

Date- 19 Sep 2007
Place- Durban
Group- D
Match- Ind vs England
Tournament – T20 World Cup.

              It’s been nine years since Yuvraj Singh hit those six sixes off Stuart Broad’s over on the South African soil,  that priceless moment is still alive in many minds of Indian cricket freaks even after spending almost a decade. The Indian left-hand batsman had a pretty inconsistent tour of England where Dimitri Mascarenhas hit him for five consecutive sixes in the sixth one day international. Albeit, India won that thriller match after Robin Uthappa’s compelling strikes.

India's yuvraj Singh hitting six sixes to Broad

            In the opening game of the tournament against England in Durban, India won the toss and elected to bat. A brilliant opening stand of 136 runs between Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir in 14.4 overs that meant Indian middle order batsmen like Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni could have some fireworks in the coming overs and something similar happened too!
          Yuvraj Singh stepped out to bat in 17th over when Uthappa was got out and India were 155/3. In the first six balls of his inning, he hit 14 runs, including a six to Andrew flintoff. That brought up some verbals exchanging moments in the ongoing match. Well, it was not the end of fire in between these two.
      Stuart Broad, less experienced English pacer came on to ball the 19th over for England, but just before that another heating moment was produced by Andrew flintoff, who is known for doing nasty things. That full-of-word-battle became quite bigger and Yuvraj Singh, who was not  in mood to leave it at all, charged up and then, MS Dhoni who was standing on the other end and Umpire had to intervene to settle down the things between Yuvraj and flintoff.
The match begun again,
Broad delivered first ball and Yuvraj Singh kicked that off for a six over deep mid wicket. That six was long enough to send the ball out of the park and had to bring out a new ball.
The second ball, was on pads and Yuvi flicked it over the square boundary.

    To slow down Yuvraj’s momentum, Broad had a chit chat with captain Collingwood.
The third ball, that was just outside off stump, Yuvraj sailed that over the cover for 3rd consecutive six.

  Before delivering the next ball, Collingwood again had a conversation with Broad but this time it was quite extensive.
The fourth ball, was a full-toss outside off stump for Yuvraj and to make it worse for all England player and even more for flintoff, he hit that too for a six over the point region. Yuvraj seemed gleeful.
   Another long discussion was made in English  tabernacle. Nervous Broad ready to bowl his 5th ball of the over. What else could he do more ?
The fifth ball, Yuvraj blasted the ball high into the sky for a six over the deep leg-square boundary.

  Meanwhile India have been crossed 200 runs milestone in the t-20 match with the seven balls remaining in the innings. Everyone, who were watching this match had a feeling. This was a history as no one had ever hit six sixes in an over. Could Yuvraj be the pioneer? Everyone wanted to know.

The screen read : 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 ....

That meant Yuvraj was one step away to create the History. On the other hand, Flintoff was looking absolutely abrupt.

The sixth ball, Broad ran in for one last time in a horrific over, delivered a length ball and Yuvraj almost played a replica and send it off over the mid wicket fence. All of sudden, Andrew flintoff felt gutted and Broad broke down into tears.
Yuvraj had done it!
The first man in the world to hit six sixes in a T20 game. The fastest half-centurion in the game. 50 off just 12 balls!

       The big screen read 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6.

Ravi Shastri, one of the prominent commentator  went ‘full monty’ in the commentary box while all of India erupted. This was history!

Hope Yuvraj Singh, who is now struggling in his career after surviving from Cancer,  will make his strong comeback into the  national team with the same that-old-firepower.

Has Gambhir 'Forcefully' ignored ?

Four consecutive half-centuries as captain with the scores of 77, 59, 90 and 94 in the 2016 edition of Duleep Trophy can describe the hunger of making runs in the left-hand southpaw Gautam Gambhir. The unsung hero of the 2011 world cup final, who is turning 35 years-old next month still have the same strike on the ball, is currently out of the national squad ever since he made 3 runs versus England in his last test which was played two summers ago.

Gambhir did not consider for test series against NZ

The selection committee led by Sandeep Patil, who has now been left selection committee, chose following squad for test series against New Zealand which kicks start from 22 September :

Squad: Virat Kohli (Capt), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Murali Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra, Umesh Yadav

There were quite a few eyebrows raised after the selectors announced their 15-member squad, Apart from Stuart Binny and Mumbai uncapped pacer Shardul Thakur who were in the squad for west indies tour, rest team is same. After being not considered for test squad, disappointed Gambhir post a quote on microblogging website twitter to express his view.

Some might raise fingers on the selectors' decision to award another chance to Rohit sharma and Shikhar Dhawan! They can ask questions to selectors because they (Rohit & Shikhar) both are considerably failed to show what they have been done in shorter format of the cricket after performing well in thier initial stage of test cricket. But, even after repeated failure, selection committee again showed their Blind-belief  upon these two openers.
Given the fact, both these openers are enjoying backing of Virat kohli in test cricket. One can assume that, in this whole scenario there is a name behind the existence of Gauti from test side may be or may not be of Virat Kohli ! Who was involved in a rift that was taken place in between him and Gautam Gambhir during an IPL match that too was not last forever between them. His relations with MS Dhoni is also not so good either. Which might cost him to secure a place in the national side even after a successful domestic journey as he garnered 488 runs in Ranji Trophy and more than 500 runs in IPL, which made him fourth-highest-run-getter in this season of Indian Premier League.
The road ahead looks not much smoother for Gambhir, who will now have to come up with something extraordinary in the Ranji Trophy that starts on 6 October to gain the attention of new selection chief.

Untill that happens, fans have to support him in this rough phase of his career and let him have a little hope.

BCCI shows intension to felicitate VIRU !

     On the footprint of veteran Zaheer Khan's facilitation during fifth one day at Wankhede stadium, now BCCI wishes to facilitate most destructive batsman of India Virender Sehwag aka Viru who bid bye to international cricket few days ago. It may possible that 'Nawab of Najafgarh' to be get felicitated at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium, Delhi in 4th test which is going to play between India vs South Africa staring from 3rd Dec.
       President of DDCA, Bansal also commented on it. He said "we have not received any imitation letter from BCCI yet. But, if it is expressed By BCCI then we must follow that".
        There is also talk about a gate or stand  can be named after Viru at Feroz Shah. "Yes, the matter is under consideration" stated Mr. Bansal.
After retiring from international cricket, he played an outstanding innings of a hundred in Ranji match at Oddisa playing for Haryana Team. That too was on the occasion of Duserra. He joined retired cricketers league co-owned by Sachin Tendulkar.




Stick here yourself to get latest development about this news.

No More Whistle-blowing for CSK, Dhoni set to leave !

Stalwart of Chennai Super Kings MS Dhoni all set to end his eight years long association with CSK. Currently, CSK has been faced a two years ban for alleged involvement in match-fixing by it's officials.





He association with CSK is from 2008, which was the very first edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) where CSK franchises bought him for the highest price of  $1.5 million for the first edition. His involvement in CSK brought a lot of fan following from different states of India specially from Bihar and Jharkhand. He was also not disappointed his fans and owners by winning IPL trophy in 2010 and 2011 & CLT-20 edition in 2010 and 2014.


If Dhoni continues to play after two years, then CSK will most probably try to buy him back. "We won't say Dhoni's association with CSK is over, but for now, he will play for some other team," the source added. He also revealed "Dhoni will definitely feature in the IPL for a new team. There is absolutely no pressure from CSK to stop him".


It may be possible that we might seen two new teams in IPL-9. So it is going to be interesting to see which franchise will make this 'synonymous of the CSK'  a part of their team. 
With inputs from agencies