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.

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.

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.

A roar against South Africa

Since, starting of a long tour of South Africa for India, nothing went in favour of team India and its management as BCCI and cricket world lost its one of the greatest administrator Jagmohan Dalmiya few days earlier who made BCCI to richest cricket board. later, two back to back defeats in T-20 international matches and one in First ODI match of current on going Paytm series ; in which first t-20 was a real nerve wracking encounter as both teams were played their heart out but at the end Africa had its upper edge. And If talks about 2nd t-20, which brought a black day for Indian cricket as dejected fans at Cuttack had thrown bottles in the ground after seeing worst performance from their beloved cricket team which caused a serious issue. Match referee had to intervene to complete that match. A very similar performance was seen in first ODI at Kanpur where Indian bowlers conceded almost 50 runs in last 5 overs and later on slow batting in those crucial overs again made Indian fans unhappy as another defeat was conglutinated on the card and a brilliant knock from Rohit Sharma went into vain. Then Indian skipper started receiving some serious allegations for being slow in that match. Well, Young pacer from Africa, Rabada was the difference between that match who escaladed over Indian batsmen with his fire-power bowling and kept our batsmen in check.  Nonetheless everyone was waiting for a win and that came into 2nd ODI  today.



At Indore stadium, India, that played 3 matches and never lost and exactly same happened there, India have a victory over Africa in a low scoring total.




=> Summary of 2nd ODI: 




After winning the toss, Indian skipper MSD decided to bat first in this match. Once his decision seems went wrong as more than half of Indian team tumbled-down like winter fall on 124 runs. None of us thought India would cross 200 but thanks to MSD for his brilliant batting of unbeaten 92 runs and a bit of resistance from lower order helped to reach upon a sacred total of 247 runs after losing 9 wickets at the end of the innings. Although India were never look competitive in this match even after scoring 247-runs as this wicket was a flat track and as other matches, this match was also look like going away from India. Only a miracle could have saved to India. For all that everyone was  waiting impatiencely for remaining match.
Now it was turn of our bowling department to do something that which never happened before like to take all those ten wickets of SA but it never seems easy though as African openers has started to peeling runs from Indian bowlers after they went off a brisk start. But all of a sudden, from 134/2, they amassed to 142/5. Very soon Kohli who couldn't contribute with the bat after an awful run out , took a blinder to evacuate  Ab De Villiers who had a-last-ball-century in Kanpur odi. Lower order of SA were also displayed some resistance but could not withstand in front of indian bowling attack and curse of bad umpiring. Bhubaneswar Kumar ripped out remaining last two wickets to ensure a 22 runs victory in favour of team India and winning streak for India at Indore remains continued and also gave a chance to all cricket lovers to rejoice after a long time.
At the end of the match , MS Dhoni elected as Man of the Match for his excellent knock. He was also playing his 100th one day match at home.
Honestly, this one would be one of the greatest victory for India in terms of performance. But all in all, this victory will boost the energy level of both team India and its fans.

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. 

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.