ICC Cricket World Cup 2011

An inspired India on Saturday night regained the coveted World Cup after 28 years as they suppressed Sri Lanka with a six-wicket victory in a nerve-wrecking inal to script a glorious new chapter in their cricketing history.

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, in a special display of courage and gamble, played the innings of his life to inspire India defeat Sri Lanka by six wickets and win the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 title after 28 years at Wankhede Stadium of Mumbai on Saturday.

Two good innings proved enough for the hosts to create history as they become the first team to win World Cup title at their home ground. Guatam Gambhir (97 from 122) and MS Dhoni (91 not out from 79) played superbly against one of the most disciplined bowling attacks in the cricket world to help India achieve a stiff 275 runs target in front of the packed Wankhede Stadium.

Sachin Tendulkar

Early Life 

Sachin Tendulkar was born on 24th of April, 1973 in Mumbai to a Marathi Novelist, Ramesh Tendulkar. Sachin got inspired to play cricket from his elder brother Ajit, and started playing the game at an early age in his school, Sharadashram Vidya Mandir. Under the guidance of his coach, Ramakant Achrekar, he learnt the basics of the game and showed his prowess along with his school mate and another future batsman of the Indian team, Vinod Kambli. 


Test and ODI Debut 

Sachin Tendulkar made his Test Cricket debut with a Test match played against Pakistan in Karachi in the year 1989, in which he scored 15 runs before being bowled out by Waqar Younis, a yet another Cricketer who debuted with this match. He began his ODI Cricket career in a match against Pakistan played on 18th of December 1989 at Gujranwala, Pakistan. He could, though, not make a single run in this match and just after facing 2 balls was caught by Wasim Akram on a Waqar Younis ball. 

Remarkable Achievements 

Tendulkar has shown some of his best batting performances against the Cricket team of Australia, one of the strongest teams during his period. As a matter of fact, the legendry Sir 

Donald Bradman had at one time reportedly told her wife that the playing style of Sachin reminded him of his own game in his youth.

Sachin has always created new records and destroyed innumerable of them that had been already established. At the age of 17 years he scored his first Test century, and by the age of 25 he had scored 16 of them. At the moment he is the Cricketer with largest number of Test and ODI centuries to his credit, and outclassed Brian Lara as the biggest Test scorer in the year 2008. 


Overall Performance 

In his overall Test Career, Sachin Tendulkar has played 186 Test matches and has scored 15409 runs in them, including 51 centuries and 65 half-centuries, with an average of 56.03 runs and a highest score of 248 Not Out. In these matches, he also grabbed 45 wickets giving away 2445 runs at an average of 54.33 runs. 

In his One Day International (ODI) Cricket career, however, Sachin has played 453 matches till date, and scored 18111 runs including 48 centuries and 95 half-centuries, with an average of 45.16 runs and a highest score of 200 Not Out. 

Rahul Dravid

Early Life 

Rahul Dravid was born on the 11th of January 1973 at Indore, Madhya Pradesh and was brought up in Bangalore, Karnataka. He studied at St. Joseph’s Boys’ High School, Bangalore and St. Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bangalore. Dravid had begun playing Cricket at quite an early age, and made a place for himself in the State Cricket team at Under-15, Under-17 and Under-19 levels. In the year 1991 he made his debut in Ranji Trophy while playing against Maharashtra. He scored 82 runs in the match, which was eventually resulted in a draw. In the year 1991-12 he also represented South Zone in the Duleep Trophy. 

Test and ODI Debut 

Rahul made his debut in One Day International (ODI) Cricket with an ODI match between India and Sri Lanka, played at Singapore on 3rd of April, 1996. He scored just 3 runs in the match. His debut in the Test Cricket was made on the June 20th, 1996 with a Test match against England, and he scored 95 runs in the match. 


Overall Performance 

In his overall Test Cricket career, Rahul Dravid has played 162 Test matches till date. In these matches, he has scored 13206 runs with an average of 52.82 runs and the highest score of 270 runs. While in ODI Cricket, he has played 344 ODI matches till date and has scored 10889 runs with an average of 39.16 runs. His highest ODI score is 153 runs.

Sourav Ganguly

Early Days 

Ganguly started playing Cricket at a very early age, as he got inspired by his elder bother Snehashish who played Cricket for Bengal. Interestingly, Sourav started playing with his left hand so that he could use his brother’s Cricket gear who himself was a left handed batsman. In his school days, Ganguly was the captain of St. Xavier’s School. 

Beginning of the Cricket Career

Sourav Ganguly showed a good performance in the Ranji Trophy season of the year 1990-91. In the year 1992 he started his One Day International (ODI) Cricket career with a match against West Indies, in which he grabbed just 3 runs. 

Again in the domestic Cricket he performed quite nicely during the years 1993-95. He scored 171 runs in an innings during the Duleep Trophy tournament of 1995-96 and was included in the national team for the England tour of the year 1996.

Test Debut

Sourav Ganguly made his Test Cricket debut at Lord’s Cricket Ground, in which he scored a century with 131 runs. This has been the highest score a batsman has achieved at Lord’s in his debut Test match. 

Throughout his Test Cricket career, Ganguly played 113 Test Matches and scored a total of 7212 runs, including 16 centuries and 35 half-centuries. He scored 900 fours and 57 sixes as a Test Cricket batsman. His highest score in Test Cricket was 239 runs, and the overall Batting Average was 42.17 runs. 

In the One Day International (ODI) Cricket, Ganguly played 311 matches and made a total score of 11363 runs comprising of 22 centuries and 72 half-centuries. The record included 1122 fours and 190 sixes, and the overall Batting Average was 41.02 runs.

Successful Captaincy

Sourav Ganguly is said to be one of India’s all time greatest Test Cricket Captains. After the match fixing scandal of the year 2000, He was declared Captain of the team. Under his Captaincy the Indian Cricket team reached the finals of the World Cup Cricket 2003, where Australia beat India to win the championship. During the year 2000-2005, he led the Indian Test Cricket team to 49 matches, out of which 21 were won by the team. He also led the Indian team to 146 One Day International (ODI) Cricket matches, out of which 76 were won by the team. In the year 2004, Ganguly was conferred upon with the Padma Shri award. 


The Comeback

Ganguly made a comeback to the Indian Cricket team in a tour match against Rest of South Africa, in which he scored 83 runs leading India to victory. In his first Test Cricket innings after the comeback, he grabbed 51 runs in a Test match against South Africa. He also came back to the Indian ODI team in the year 2007, and in his first ODI innings after the comeback scored 98 runs in a match against West Indies. 

Ganguly’s score of 66 runs was the highest in the first round match of the Indian team against the Bangladesh team in World Cup 2007, although the Indian team lost the match by 5 wickets. 

He was named the Captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders team in the IPL Twenty-20 Cricket tournament 2008. In a match played between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals during the tournament, Ganguly scored 51 runs off just 39 balls, which was his highest Twenty-20 Cricket score. 


Achievements


 Most number of Test victories as India captain; more than 10,000 runs in ODI cricket; highest ODI score by an Indian in World Cup; first Indian captain to win a Test series in Pakistan; India captain in most number of Tests 

Sourav Chandidas Ganguly, commonly known as Sourav Ganguly has been a member of the Indian Cricket team, and regarded to be one of the most successful Captains ever of the Indian Cricket team. As a matter of fact, the Indian Test Cricket team won 21 Test Cricket matches out of total 49 that were played under his Captainship, which is one of the best success rates any Captain of the Indian Test Cricket team has ever managed to accomplish. Not only this, Ganguly, fondly known as Dada by his fans and Maharaj by his teammates, has to his credit the feat of having nurtured a number of efficient players who played under his Captainship. These include Virender Sahwag, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh among others. 

Anil Kumble Ten Wickets Haul

Anil Kumble achieved the historic feat of grabbing all ten wickets in an innings against archrivals Pakistan at Delhi's Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium. India went into the match already 1-0 down in the two match series, eager to avenge the narrow 12-run defeat by Pakistan in Chennai a week previously.

Having won the toss and electing to bat, India found the off-spin of Saqlain Mustaq too hot to handle and were all out for 252 early on day two. With the pitch providing generous assistance to spinners, Kumble and Harbhajan Singh bowled out Pakistan for a measly 172. 

Early into day four, India were all out for 339 in their second innings and set Pakistan a target of 420 runs. Post-lunch, Kumble got his first success when he had Shahid Afridi caught behind by Nayan Mongia. The very next ball, Ijaz Ahmed was trapped LBW and Kumble was on a hat-trick. 

As the spin wizard went about weaving his web around the hapless Pakistanis, the specter of matching Jim Laker's record started emerging. Pakistan's tail folded out to Kumble's guile and precision and when Washim Akram fell as the last man, Kumble's name made its entry into the record books alongside that of Jim Laker's.

Kumble's analysis of 10 for 74 masks the fact that he took all ten Pakistani wickets in one 21.3 over spell, conceding only 49 runs in the process.

Famous Kolkata Test Victory 2001

Before the Kolkata Test, the Australian juggernaut has piled up 16 consecutive Test wins and India was already down 0-1 in the three Test series. With their back to the wall, Indians came up with a memorable performance to win the Test and level the series.

As the Test progressed, Australia appeared to have carried on from where they had left in the first Test and put up a challenging total of 445 despite Harbhajan Singh registering India's first ever Test hat-trick. In reply, India were bundled out for a paltry 171 and asked to follow on by Steve Waugh. Still 274 behind, India were losing early wickets with the well-set VVS Laxman holding fort at one end.

After Ganguly's departure, Rahul Dravid joined Laxman and what followed was a mammoth partnership of such magnitude that it changed the cricketing fortunes of this country. They just went on and on and the 376-run partnership helped India put together an overwhelming 657/7 declared.

Pursuing a challenging target of 384 runs of a minimum 75 overs, Australia were 161 for 3 at tea on the final day. Post tea, Australian wickets started falling in a heap with Harbhajan Singh (6/73) and Tendulkar (3/31) knocking the stuffing out of the visiting side. All out for 212, Australia's 16 match winning streak came to an end in a 171 run loss.

INDIA won the Border Gavaskar Trophy, 2001

22nd March 2001, India wins the Border Gavaskar Trophy (IND v AUS 3 Matches Test Series). 2nd Test at Eden Gardens when Australia leads the series 1-0 and forces India to Follow-on, India comeback strongly by the 376 runs partnership between Laxman(281 runs) & Dravid(180 runs) and Harbhajan Singh’s wicket fest including a Hat trick . Since then India dominates the series and wins last 2 Tests as well as the Series 2-1. Man of the Series Harbhajan Singh takes 32 wickets. Indian captain Sourav Ganguly wins the popular Rivalry against Australian captain Steve Waugh.

INDIA won NatWest Trophy, 2002

13th July 2002, India wins the Trophy by a thrilling 2 wickets victory over England at Lord’s. Yuvraj Singh(69 runs) and Man of the Final Mohammad Kaif(87* runs) has seized the initiative back for India after a sudden collapse has seemed to dash their hopes when they are chasing huge 326 runs.Indian captain Sourav Ganguly celebrate the winning moment by taking his shirt off and flying it over head at the historical Lord’s balcony as he takes revenge against English All-rounder Andrew Flintoff’s charged topless around the Wankhede Stadium a few months earlier.

INDIA was joint winner of ICC Champions Trophy, 2002

30th September 2002, after two days of one innings play and second session rain, the ICC Champions Trophy 2002 is sharing between Sanath Jayasuriya’s Sri Lanka and Sourav Ganguly’s India. Both the final India restricted Sri Lanka 244 & 222 runs but not able to complete the chase due to rain.

INDIA achieved No.1 in ICC Test ranking, 2009

6th December 2009, India is only the third team after Australia and South Africa to surge to the top of the ladder since the Test Championship was first introduced in May 2001. India’s ascent to the No.1 position in the ICC Test ratings is largely due to their improved performances overseas which were started under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly and continued under the captaincy of Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, & current Indian captain M. S. Dhoni. Basement of this success majorly constructed by the Fabulous 5 of the Indian Cricket (Tendulkar, Kumble, Ganguly, Dravid & Laxman). Shewag, Harbhajan, Zaheer Khan, Dhoni & Gambhir the Young Stars are also contributed consistently to achieve the No. 1 spot in Test ranking.