SURESH KUMAR RAINA – AN ATTACKING LEFT-HANDER

SURESH RAINA is a left-handed middle-order batsman and occasionally used as an off-spinner. He is also an electrifying fielder in the ground. He made his ODI debut in 2005 and Test debut in 2010 against the same team Sri Lanka. He is well recognized as one of the great finisher of the game like his captain M.S Dhoni.

In 2011 World cup he was on the bench as Yusuf Pathan was in good form but in the quarter-final against Australia Dhoni gave Suresh Raina a chance and he responded well in the match. Later on he also played crucial knock in the semi-final against Pakistan. He always wanted to establish himself as a permanent test player but his dubious technique against the short-pitch ball expose him in Test cricket where bowler can bowl more than one short-pitch ball.

He is an attacking batsman usually comes into bat at no 5 doesn’t get much chance to bat. But he is the only Indian batsman to have scored a century in all forms of Inter-national cricket.

Indian Premier League

Suresh Raina is quickly mastering the art of finishing games, along with MS Dhoni. He is also a part-time spinner who often provides the crucial breakthrough at the right moment. He was bought by Chennai Super Kings for the first three seasons. His contribution to CSK team is expendable that's why CSK retained him for the remainder of the season. Raina is the only batsman to have scored over 400 runs in each of the IPL seasons and with 2254 runs, is the highest run-getter in IPL. He is the only batsman who scores 400 runs in every IPL season.

VIRAT KOHLI – THE TALENTED YOUNGSTER

A typical modern day cricketer Virat Kohli is an outstanding middle-order batsman. Everybody perceived about him before his ODI debut match against Sri Lanka. As he was the captain of the Under-19 World Cup winning Indian Team in 2008. And within the span of two years of his career he was appointed as the Vice-Captain of the Indian team in 2010 for the tri-series in Zimbabwe.

He also played an important part in his first World Cup in 2011 which India won. He made his Test debut in the year 2011 against West Indies.

He holds many milestones in his small career like fastest Indian cricketer to reach 1000 runs in ODI. He constantly the highest run scorer by an Indian cricketer in ODI from 2010 to 2012. He is a great hitter and a character. These milestones show how talented cricketer he is.

ZAHEER KHAN – THE KING OF REVERSE SWING

Zaheer khan a left-arm fast bowler known for his reverse swing. He made his ODI debut against Kenya and TEST debut against Bangladesh in the same year 2000. And from there on he is leading the bowling attack of the INDIAN team. He has faced lots of ups and downs throughout his career. He was constantly cutting down from the team. In 2005 bowlers like S. Sreesanth, R.P Singh made their debut and making it difficult for Zaheer Khan to keep his place in the squad.

In 2006 he went to England to play for Worcestershire county cricket club. He performed  brilliantly for the club. After that he was recalled for TEST and ODI team for the tour of South Africa. He was the leading wicket taker bowler jointly with Shahid Afridi with 21 wickets in the recently held World Cup 2011 which INDIA won.

His journey so far is like undying spirt to strike back,his never to say die attitude making a great comeback in the team when everyone thinks his career is finished.

RAHUL DRAVID - THE WALL

Rahul Dravid born on 11^th January 1973 is a former Indian team captain in both ODI and test. He was also named as THE WALL .His test debut was more successful rather than his ODI debut. Later on he accomplished himself more in test cricket rather than in ODI and his contribution in test cricket is much more than in an ODI.

After 2000 he became the most dependable batsman of Indian team. He gets to his remark against  Australia where the Indian about to miss the match after put into follow on he made 180 runs  and hold the partnership of 376 with his teammate V.V.S Laxman who made 281 runs in that match.

After that he was appointed as the captain of the Indian team. But the big failure in his captaincy is 2007 World Cup where the team was eliminated in the first group stage losing to Bangladesh. But over-all his captaincy record was mixed.

MAHENDRA SINGH DHONI, THE CHARISMATIC CRICKET CAPTAIN OF INDIA

Mahendra Singh Dhoni was born in Ranchi, the capital of the eastern state of Jharkhand in India.One of cricket's most charismatic personalities today is the Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He has been a true inspirational figure and has provided for some great cricketing moments.

MS Dhoni becomes first captain to win all ICC trophies the ICC champions trophy in 2013 followed Dhoni leads India to glory in the 2007 World Twenty20 and the 50-over World Cup in 2011.

5 things which make Dhoni a charismatic captain:

1.   Lead from the front: Under critical situations, Dhoni has always taken the responsibility of ending the match like he did in the World Cup Final 2011. When the opening batsmen are down and the pressure is building up on the team, he leads the team by sending himself up the order.

 2.  Managing pressure: His Ability to remain calm and keep cool whatever the situation is. The way he Manage high stress without losing his equanimity is the key to long-term success.

3.Taking measured decisions: Dhoni’s decisions have often been criticized by the media. But, most of the times all the decisions he takes are correct like winning the toss and electing to bat first on seaming pitch  and the ability to stand firm on the decisions.

4. Motivation is the key to success: Cricket is a religion in India. So the pressure on every single player is high, his crucial job to keep the team motivated. Don't let the team be demoralized, motivation can bring the team on a successful path.

5.  Admit your mistakes: He has always accepted responsibility for the bad decisions rather than ignoring them. Instead learning from them and forging ahead is the key to success.

VIRENDER SEHWAG AN UNCONVENTIONAL BATSMAN

VIRENDER SEHWAG is an aggressive right-handed opening batsman for India. He made only 1 run in his ODI debut against Pakistan in 1999 and scored 105 runs in his Test debut against South Africa in 2001. He is the only Indian cricketer to be honoured as the Wisden leading Cricketer in the world, and the first one to retain that award in the next year as well.

He was always criticised about his playing style. He doesn't care about what the situation is he always plays his natural game which is see the ball and hit the ball. But now his batting style has changed from reckless hitting to controlled aggression.

He has constructed an extraordinary career with a relentless quest, and a genius, for boundary hitting. With minimal footwork but maximum intent, he has piled Test runs at a faster pace than anyone in the history of cricket. 

HIS ACHIEVEMENTS

He holds many records like highest score in an innings 319  in Test cricket by an Indian, fastest triple century in the history of Test cricket which was on 278 balls. He is the third batsman who surpassed triple century twice. The highest runs in an ODI match 219 by an individual.

SOURAV GANGULY THE MOST SUCCESSFUL CAPTAIN

Sourav Ganguly was born on 8th July 1972 in Calcutta. He had a luxurious childhood because his father was one the richest man in the city. He had started his One Day International (ODI) debut for India against the West Indies in 1992 scoring just 3 runs. He was dropped from the Team immediately. Later on he made his Test debut against England at Lord’s where he scored a century in his debut match. He scored his first ODI century against Sri Lanka in 1997.

In 2000, he was named as the captain of the Indian Cricket Team. His career as a captain started really well he won an ODI series against South Africa and took Indian Team to the final of ICC knockout trophy in 2000.

During the final match of the 2002 NatWest trophy at Lords after winning the final, Ganguly took off his shirt in public to celebrate India's wins. At 2003, India reached the World cup final for the first time since 1983, where they lost to the Australians. Ganguly had a successful tournament .

In 2004 he had achieved significant success as captain and was deemed as India's most successful cricket captain. 

INDIA WINNING THE WORLD CUP AGAIN IN 2011

On 2^ND April 2011 the day when India regained the coveted the World Cup 2011 after 28 years as they surpassed Sri Lanka with a six wicket victory in the final in Mumbai. The clamorous  jam-packed crowd at Wankhede Stadium erupted in wild celebration when Dhoni finished it off in style by hitting the winning six to give India biggest cricketing moment and crown themselves as the ODI World Champions.

FINAL INDIA VS SRI LANKA

Sri Lanka wins the toss electing to bat first, Mahela Jayawardene  used his vast experience and batted throughout the innings to give Sri Lankans a defending total of 274.

The Indian innings began on a disastrous note as the devastating opener batsman Virender Sehwag was dismissed LBW in the very second ball of the innings by pacer Lasith  Malinga. After that Malinga struck again by dismissing the Sachin Tendulkar and there was utter silence in the crowd.

But the contribution of Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kholi, and the captain himself M.S Dhoni managed India to win the title. It was a proud moment for every Indian and the more for Sachin Tendulkar because it was the only trophy missing from his collections in his long 20 year career.

INDIA FIRST TWENTY-20 CHAMPIONS IN 2007

The inaugural World Twenty20 tournament which had been devised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2007 in South Africa. India had won the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup under the captaincy of M.S Dhoni.

In Durban, India and Pakistan played out a tie, and were involved in the first ever international bowl out, which is the equivalent of a soccer penalty shooting out, which India won 3-0. 

Winning the toss and deciding to bat, India scrapped their way to a 157-7 on a pitch where 180 was possible.  The final match went into the last over Pakistan needing 13 runs to win in the final over, with only 1 wicket remaining. Joginder Sharma bowled the last over he hit a six by Misbah then Pakistan needed just 6 runs to win from the last 4 balls. Misbah attempted to hit the next ball with over fine leg,but he only managed the ball to go within 30 yards from the pitch,and it was caught at short-fine leg by Sreesanth, leaving Pakistan all out for 152 runs.

The Indian Team played so well  throughout the World Cup, and finally they made the World Cup which they deserved. The highlight of this World Cup is that Yuvraj Singh, had hit six sixes in an over, which Stuart Broad had bowled.

INDIA WORLD CHAMPION IN 1983

The 25^th June 1983 is the biggest day for India in the history of Cricket. India had won the world championship under the captaincy of Kapil Dev by defeating the two consecutive time champion team West Indies. The 1983 World  cup was held by England and the world cup final match was played on Load’s in England.

 THE FOUR TEAMS IN SEMI-FINALS

1st Semi-final India VS England

2nd Semi-final West Indies VS Pakistan

The Indian team had won 4 matches out of 6 matches they played. Due to their victories Indian managed to get a place in the semi-finals. The 1st semi-final was played between India vs England where Eng made 213 runs batting first. The Indian team easily won the match by 4 wickets to spare.

FINAL INDIA VS WEST INDIES

Then the Indian team met West Indies in the final the favorite team of the World Cup. Where the Indian team lost the toss and put into bat. They were somehow managed to get a decent total in the final 183 all out.

On seeing the West Indies batting line-up the score did not look decent but the great bowling done by the Indian bowler. Mohinder Amarnath who was awarded the man of the match for his all round performance he made 26 runs in the batting and took 3 wickets by giving just 12 runs in his 7 sever over.

CRICKET IN EARLIER DAYS IN INDIA

The first cricket club in India was established in Calcutta in 1792, India's national cricket team did not play its first Test match until 25 June 1932 at Lord's.

India proved weaker than Australia and England, winning only 35 of more  than 200 Test matches they  played. The team, however, gained potency at the end of the 1970s with the emergence of players such as Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and the Indian spinner Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivas Venkataraghavan (both off spinners), Bhagwat Chandrasekhar (a leg spinner), and Bishen Singh Bedi (a left-arm spinner).

In the 1980s, India developed a more attacking batting line-up with hard-hitting batsman such as the Mohammed Azharuddin, Dilip Vengsarkar and all-rounder Ravi Shastri. With the assistance of these players India won the Cricket World Cup in 1983, defeating the favorites and two-time defending champions West Indies in the final, owing to a strong bowling performance.

 In spite of this, the team did poorly in the Test arena, including 28 succession Test matches without a victory. In 1984 aside from gaining ground in India. India remained a weak team outside the Indian subcontinent.

SACHIN - THE GOD OF CRICKET

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar born on 24^th April 1973. His accomplishments are truly eminent. The Cricket legend like Sir Don Bradman, Viv Richards proclaims that he is the world class batsman ever born. Later on he was also called the God of Cricket by his devotees. Sachin has done so much stuff in Cricket that most ordinary mortal can only dream of.

His Achievements in Cricket

The most number of One Day International played, the most number of Test played, the most Test runs, the most ODI (One Day International ) runs, the most Test Hundred, the most ODI (One Day International ) Hundred. His first ODI century came after 79 matches he played isn't it surprising.The first batsman to score 100^th International Hundred in the history of cricket. Now he has taken retirement from ODI but he still plays Test cricket.

His Popularity 

Sachin is very popular cricketer among all age group, male or female. He is liked and loved by everyone. But the ardent fan  of Sachin Tendulkar is Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary from Bihar. He has always seen in every match that Indian Team played in India. It’s not hard to spot him on cricket ground as he has painted his body in saffron, white, green.

CRICKET IN SMALL TOWNS AND CITIES

Cricket is very popular in small towns and cities. If you look at the current Indian cricket team many of them like M.S Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar etc. The reason why many of them are from small towns and cities is that they took cricket as a passion and live for the cricket only while in metro cities they took it as a sport and play for the enjoyment.

Lack of Infrastructure

There are so many talented players in small towns for them cricket remains their only route to escape from the battle. The lack of exposure, funds, facilities in their own town hurts them. The small town cricketer is not getting ample opportunity to demonstrate their talent like other big cities cricketers.

IPL - Gift for Youngsters 

Indian Premier League is one of the best platforms for the youngsters from small towns or cities to get the attention of the selectors of the Indian cricket team. They make a lot of money from the team owner for playing in their squad. If they do well enough throughout the whole season their chances of paying more money to them in a coming IPL season by their own team franchises.

CRICKET A RELIGION IN INDIA

In India there are many religions but the faith that unites Indians better is Cricket only. It is said that cricketers are adored in India by their millions of passionate followers of all age groups, gender, caste. There are many legendary cricketers  like Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, M. S. Dhoni and the one who is known as the god of cricket is Sachin Tendulkar.

Money, Fame, Valor

These three factors Money, Fame, Valor that influenced cricket in India. These factors attracts people to be a part of cricket. In current era cricketers are earning bunch of money from endorsements. They make all the luxury facilities like frequent domestic and international tours, rewards and recognition. What else you need to become famous.

How Indians react towards cricket?

Indian people celebrate passionately the victory of Indian cricket team and effigies of players who won’t perform well are burnt after India loss the match. One good performance makes a playful god for the fans, yet another failure makes him hostile. It’s true fact that the Indian people want to see their team win at any cost.

CRICKET PLAYED IN INDIA

In the recent times Cricket has become really popular game among the people in India.Cricket is not the national sports of India yet all Indians feels like it is merely equal to national sport.

How can you say like that?

The turning point came in 2007; when Indian team was consider as a dark-horse but the victory of the Twenty-20 World Cup an unknown format within India and from there onwards, the recent win in the 2011 World Cup has ensured that cricket will continue to be India's national game.

WE ARE CHAMPIONS

After the formation of Indian Premier League in 2008 was initiated by Lalit modi and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). it has been an enormous success.

In current scenario  it has become a shorter way of earning money for all who are somewhere related to it. I want to share an incidence with you all last week before i went to an academy where i saw a father introducing his talented son to the coach and asking him to give placement to his son in any of the ipl teams rather than domestic teams or even in Indian team. He also told him i will pay you whatever it takes. This shows the mentality of the people and on seeing this i felt really bad.