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.

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.

Glory Continue versus Pak in world cup !

It's 6-0 !

When India play against its arch rival Pakistan then million hearts of both the countries are stopped to beat till the result not comes. As India jolted Pakistan by 76 runs, they have now been successfully started off their ICC world cup 2015 campaign on a bright note.

India were seeking for a victory since the starting of their Australia tour but couldn't capitalise that, but finally a win came into their pocket in world cup. 

India made 300 for 7 (Kohli 107, Raina 74, Dhawan 73, Sohail 5-55) while batting first whereas Pakistan were bowled out on 224 (Misbah 76, Shehzad 47, Shami 4-350 and India registered an emotional win over Pakistan 6th time in the history of world cup. 

Team India celebrating victory over Pakistan 

Summary:  

After winning the toss, India had opted to bat first at Adelaide oval. Dhawan and Rohit had made their ways to open the innings for Team India but soon after starting the match, Rohit was dismissed cheaply. Then Vice captain Virat Kohli came to crease to build the P'sip with dhawan. Both were playing sensible cricket till a misunderstanding of a run out was not occured between these two batsmen and in the result of Misbah's direct-hit, Dhawan had to walk back on his 73 runs. Suresh Raina joined kohli who was playing on 73*. Now team India were depend on these two dangerous middle order batsmen to score well and set a big total for Pak without losing the wicket and exactly same was happening. Meanwhile Pak keeper dropped a catch of kohli who was looking more aggressive towards making the runs. From 35 to 40th over, in which batting powerplay was taken, Pakistan bowlers conceded only 25 runs but India hadn't lost any wicket which was a big thing. In the 43rd over of India's innings, Virat scored his odi century no.22, that is faster than anyone else in ODI cricket. Raina had also been completed his odi fifty just after Virat's ton. But very soon, to gear up the run rate, both were out quickly 

on 107 and 74 respectively. Sohail khan was a bit of impressive with the ball in the death overs and took a Fif-er on his world cup debut. India were finally managed to put 300 runs on the scorecard after losing 7 wickets.

After the break, Pakistan were there to chase the target as their openers made their ways to kick off the innings. As sooner as the inning started, Shami got Younus khan in the 3rd over of the inning. Haris Sohail joined Shehzad, both were playing steady innings against Indian bowling attack but couldn't capitalise their score. The rest were just come to show their presence and enjoy the match except their Captain Misbah ul haq, who showed some resistance and played an inning of 76 runs before being out as 9th player. Hence, Pakistan couldn't break the jinx of losing in the world cup against India and lost by 76 runs. 

Facts: 

• The tickets for this clash at Adelaide were sold out in just 20 minutes !
• Kohli took only 143 innings to become the fastest player to complete 22 odi tons.
• Sohail Khan took a fif-er on his world cup debut.
• India Beat pakistan in all six matches of world cup yet that have been played in 1992, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2011 and now 2015.

Match in Pics: 

Now the big task is coming ahead, as India will have to take on South Africa on 22 feb. Dont't Forget that India never won a single match against SA in world cup (0-3). 

Congrats team India for one of the biggest win in terms of emotions and All the Best for upcoming matches. 

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 

World cup 2011 stars Ignored !

Did you ever imagine team India playing without the World cup 2011 winning stars Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh or anyone of them ? 
       The answer may be in NO, But This is going to happen in World cup 2015. BCCI Selection committee kept emotions aside and excluded those from the world cup 2015 30's probables list which was announced on thrusday. We know very well that These have performed miracles for India and were also vital cogs in helping the side break a 28-year jinx to claim the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011. At present, May be they are not at their best but it doesn't mean to keep them out of at least the probables list. 
                                                                              

Yuvraj Singh :
                        A key player for team India who played very important role to bring T-20 world cup 2007, Chamipons trophy and World cup 2011. For his termendious performance in wold cup, he was named Man of the Tournament as he scored 362 runs ( 1 hundred and 4 fifties ) and took 15 wickets. Though he was critisized for slow batting in World T-20 2014, but you just can't ignore his ability and match-winning innings for Team India.

 Yuvi's performance in world cup
        Matches- 23
        Innings-   21
        Runs -   738
        HS -  113
        Avg.- 50.76
         SR - 90.28

Virender Sehwag : 
  Two times (2008, 2009)  "Wisden Leading Cricketer in the world" award winner Viru is known for his fearless batting style. Bowlers of opposition team are already afraid when they see his name in playing XI. He is the 2nd batsman after Master Blaster Sachin to make a double century in one day international. Eventually this was happen on the very same day in 2011 against West Indies. But Selection board also ignored the ruthless batting of this batsman.

Gautam Gambhir : 
     This Opening batsman of team india will be remembered for his solid knock of 97 runs in the world cup final. He scored 393 runs in 9 matches of the world cup 2011. Due to his failure in recent England tour, Selectors decided to not mark his name in world cup probables. But he is doing good in Ranji matches.

Zaheer Khan :

    This left-hand bowler is famous for his reverse swing. He gave Team India and its fans a lot of moments to rejoice by taking wickets whenever he has ball in his hand. King Khan of Indian cricket took 21 important wickets in 2011 world cup and help team to seal the World cup. But due to injuries and lack of his presence in ground, Selection committee ignored his name in world cup 2015 probable list.

Harbhajan Singh : 

     Knowing by "Turbonator", Harbhajan singh was also the part of winning squad of World cup 2011. He got 9 wickets in 9 matches during 2011 world cup. He was the one, who helped Mumbai Indians to win its first IPL. After that, his bowling performance was not good as expected from him as an international bowler. His last odi was in July 2011. Hence BCCI selection committee didn't consider him for world cup 2015. 

 India World Cup preliminary squad:

 Batsmen : 

         Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Robin Uthappa, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Manoj Tiwary, Manish Pandey, Murali Vijay

 Wicketkeeper :​ 

         MS Dhoni, Wriddhiman Saha, Sanju Samson

 Allrounders :​ 

         Ravindra Jadeja, Akshar Patel, Stuart Binny, ParvezRasool

 Spinners :

         R Ashwin, Karn Sharma,Amit Mishra, Kuldeep Yadav

  Fast bowlers : 

         Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohd Shami, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mohit Sharma, Ashok Dinda.

What do you think about this move from BCCI selection board ? Is it good to give rest to experience players from a big tournamnet ?

Well, now it is interesting to see how team India will perform in world cup without these big names. 

Historic Clean-Sweep vs Zim

Before starting the Zimbabwe series no one expect a clean sweep by Indian team but newly appointed skipper Virat and his boys done it and made a history, that is none of any indian skipper gave a whitewash to their opponent on foreign soil but now young Virat Kohli has this milestone as he appointed skipper at the age of  24y 239d. It won't be surprisable if i say leg spinner Amit Mishra was the Hero of the series as he took 18 wkts in the series including his career best 48/6. A controversial  tweet about Parvez Rasool from J&K CM Omar Abdullah created this tour more highlighted. 

Report of the series:
1st Match - India won by 6 wickets.
2nd Match- India won by 58 runs.
3rd Match- India won by 7 wickets.
4th Match- India won by 9 wickets.
5th Match- India won by 7 wickets.


Now as per new Rankings #RavindraJadeja added another feather in his cap,

all-rounder becomes first Indian after Anil Kumble to top ODI bowlers' list.

India Clean sweep Zim and Remain on top of ICC ODI Ranking with 123 rating.