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.

Think above a loss

Yesterday Indian Team lost their Semi-Final Match against co-host of  Cricket World Cup 2015 Australia by a margin of 95 runs as Indian world famous strong batting line up collapsed on 233. Skipper MS Dhoni(65), Shikhar Dhawan(45) and Rahane(44) were the top scorers for India. while no other batsman contributed with their bat. As we lost the match then as usual some Un-educated fans started targeting Indian cricketers on social media to draw fire and burned poster of Indian cricket players as India ousted from World cup.

Summary:
Though Indian bowlers managed to get 7 wickets but as per past habits, our bowling in death overs was a reason to cost us the match(P.S.- though our bowlers really did a fantastic job throughout the world cup 2015) as Australian tailenders quick fired almost 50 runs in last 5 overs and as well as lack of strong batting display from Indian side. Except Dhoni, Rahane and Dhawan no one played enough to put some instance against Aussie's bowling attack. Though fielding was exceptionally well, not only in this match but also throughout the tournament. Once again one of the biggest nightmare for India, Steven Smith played like a boss and hit a century and in the end Faulkner & Johnson's handy cameos helped OZ to reach 328 runs after losing 7 wickets. As Indian batting started to play steady and later flying for a brisk start, it was looking an easy win for India but once Indian openers got out, middle order throw away their wickets just in a short span of time that made the big difference. Dhoni was trying to do something with bat after that but that was also not enough to chase this huge target and he was also fall short between 22 yards. His a ball-a-ran inning was ended up with an excellent throw by maxwell on 65 runs and India had lost the Semi-Final by an amount of 95 runs. And with this loss, glorious days of Indian team were also ended in world cup campaign. Odi No.1 team Australia totally outplayed us on that certain day. 

Match In Pics: 

      
Stats: 

1. 7 times holes out opposition.
2. Dhawan was 5th highest run scorer in cwc'15.
3. U Yadav 3rd most wicket taker- 18 wickets
4. 3rd team that having best winning avg in world cup history- 61%.

        Now the question is that is it goot to blame these players for the loss ? we all know that in a game one will have to win and another have to lose. but fans are fans they don't know how does a player feel whenver he win or loss.

 It really feels ashamed when true admires of cricket behave like that we need to protect a player's house and his familiars. Do not forget that they are the heroes who are representing a country, culture, our nation flag. We all know that they are earning enough to spend their lives happily but all they need, is our support and respect. Because they are those who achieved the feat to represent passion, love and craziness of 103 crores cricket manics and happiness, joyous and almost every other emotions. They are human not machine though that can work with highest efficiency. Even machines are also not capable to give its 100% then how can we expect from a human to do so. It's not all about cricket but we must have to respect every sportsperson who is representing us and making us proud. They also wants to put their best effort to be winner but sometimes things  did not go the way those had to be planned. Once think that what will happen if they refused to play for India ? won't it a shameful for us ? So try to respect them. It was also completely disgusting to see that for the TRP, our media was started to target some individuals and our team after being dejected from world cup. You also do not forget that Only India is the only team that having world cup(1983, 2011), T-20 world cup  and Champions trophy. The truth is that In fact no one was thinking that India will play semi-final in world cup after a really forgettable tour of co-host Australia but the way  they played in world cup was outstanding and applaud-able. 

Overall it was totally a great experience for Team India and its fans. Be proud on our team and cheers for Men in Blue .

MSD walked in Test Sunset

Everyday is happening something that leave you either surprised or Emotional bounded. On the Very same,Yesterday all of sudden, Indian skipper MS Dhoni surprised all cricket fans with his "Test Cricket Retirement" step. Many of us while feeling bit relaxed after a test drawn against Australia , who could think MSD has decided to give shock to all cricket fans. But as per records and stats suggest that he was not that much successful as a test skipper than ODI & T-20 skipper. Thus to give more attention on One day and t20 matches he gave up test cricket for better concentration in Short-format cricket. 
MSD left test cricket the way he entered without any fuss, farewell and without outpouring of emotions.

MSD retired from test cricket

 His Shocking retirement report was broken on BCCI's tweet feed after minutes of end of Melbourne test. According to that tweet, "MS Dhoni has chosen to retire from Test Cricket with immediate effect".

"One of India's greatest Test Captains under whose leadership India became the No. 1 team in the Test Rankings MS Dhoni, has decided to retire from Test Cricket citing the strain of playing all formats of Cricket," the statement said.

Test Career Stats of MSD

A look back at the career of India's most successful captain:-

December 2, 2005: Made his Test debut (30 off 54 balls) and holds a catch behind the stumps vs SL in chennai.

December 12, 2005: Scored his first Test fifty (51* off 51 balls) in the 2nd innings at the Feroz Shah Kotla.

January 23, 2006: Dhoni's 148 off 153 balls to help India post 603 against Pakistan's 588. The Test was drawn.

July 23, 2007: Helped in a nerve-wracking draw at Lord's, scoring 76* off 159 balls.

April 11, 2008: Leads in a Test for the first time in Anil Kumble's absence. India beat South Africa inside three days on a rank turner at Kanpur.

October 21, 2008: Dhoni won his first Man-of-the-Match award for innings of 92 and 68* in a 130-run win in the second Test against Australia in Mohali.

November 6, 2008: Dhoni takes charge as full-time Test captain with Kumble retired. India beat Australia by 172 runs in Nagpur to win the series 2-0.

April 7, 2009: Dhoni became the second Indian captain in 41 years to win a Test series in New Zealand.

December 6, 2009: Following a 2-0 series win over Sri Lanka, India become No 1 in the ICC Test rankings for the first time. Dhoni scores an unbeaten 100 off 154 balls.

February 18, 2010: India managed to keep their No 1 ranking with an innings win over South Africa at Eden Gardens. Dhoni made 132* off 187 blls

February 24, 2013: A first for Dhoni in Tests: a rollicking double-century (224 runs).

March 5, 2013: Dhoni became India's most successful captain who gone past Sourav Ganguly's record of 21 Test win.

March 24, 2013: Oversees India's first Test series whitewash over Australia by 4-0.

July 21, 2014: India win at Lord's for the first time in 28 years, arguably the most famous Test win under Dhoni.

December 30, 2014: Dhoni announces his retirement from Test cricket at the MCG after sixth consecutive series loss. 

Some Test Records and statics : 

• Most test played as a skipper - 60 matches
•  4th skipper to lead team in most time of span - 6 years
• Highest win percentage among all Indian captains (minimum 10 test) - 45%
• Captained in 60 matches: won 27, lost 18, Drawn 15.
• Most runs by an Indian Captain in tests - 3454
• Most dismissals by an Indian wicketkeeper in a test - 9
• MSD in Test (Asia) : Captained 34, won 23, lost 4, drawn 7
• Outside : Matches 26, Won 4, lost 14, drawn 8
• Most wins by an Indian skipper- 27
• Most Sixes as an Indian captain- 51
• Higest runs in an inning as an Indian skipper - 224 (vs Aus, 2013)
• Played Most tests in dual role as captain-keeper-60 
• 3rd overall, wicket-keeper batsman to score highest runs - 224 runs
• Most Runs as an international captain (5th player) -10003 runs 

  

  MSD taking away Stump during his final Test

 As a batsman, he retires with a total of 4876 runs at an average of 38.09, with six hundreds and 33 fifties in 90 matches. His Test best is 224 in a big win over Australia in 2013 at Chennai. Dhoni took 256 catches and 38 stumpings in 90 Tests.
Though he will continue to serve India in One day international and T20 matches but it is just like an era of practical game has retired. Dhoni infused a belief in small-town folks that they could rise to the top if they backed their talent. Many of his team mates and even other players from different countries wished him for best test career.
So what will we remember of MS Dhoni, the man from Ranchi who wore the number 251 on his white India shirt? The views can be different but one thing is sure that Dhoni has made changes possible by stepping aside. The timing will be debated, but it is the right choice.
On This Note, I Wishing Him All the best for World Cup 2015. 

Happy New Year 2015