On 2nd April, India repeated history by winning the World Cup after 28 long years. Under the leadership of MS Dhoni, India defeated Sri Lanka handsomely.
MS Dhoni remained unbeaten on 91 as India successfully chased down 275 against Sri Lanka at the Wankhede stadium to lift the World Cup in 2011 after a gap of 28 years.
Sachin Tendulkar holds an array of individual records in the World Cup. He scored 2278 runs in the world cup 2011 with 6 centuries and 15 fifties in five different ICC Cricket World Cups (1992, 1996, 2003, 2007, 2011)
Rahul Dravid became the first cricketer to take 200 catches when he got Dale Steyn with a brilliant catch at slip during the second India-South Africa Test at Durban on Monday, 27th December 2011.
A brilliant slip fielder, Dravid (149 Tests) is at the top the list of most number of catches in Tests. Former Australian opener Mark Waugh is second with 181 catches from 128 Tests, followed by Australian skipper Ricky Ponting with 174 catches.
For more than a decade, Dravid has held on to some stunning catches at slip and played a major role in spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh's success.
Find here his milestones as a fielder...
Break-up of catches against each country
vs Australia: 47 in 29 Tests
vs Bangladesh: 13 in 7 Tests
vs England: 26 in 17 Tests
vs New Zealand: 17 in 15 Tests
vs Pakistan: 19 in 15 Tests
vs South Africa: 21 in 20 Tests
vs Sri Lanka: 16 in 20 Tests
vs West Indies: 20 in 17 Tests
vs Zimbabwe: 21 in 9 Tests
Note: Dravid's tally includes one catch taken for ICC World XI in the 'Super' Test against Australia.
Dravid's milestone catches:
Catch No. 1: Nasser Hussain off Javagal Srinath in first Test.
Catch No. 50: Ricky Ponting off Harbhajan Singh in 43rd Test.
Catch No. 100: Shane Warne off Harbhajan Singh in 79th Test.
Catch No. 150: Andrew Strauss off Anil Kumble in 110th Test.
Catch No. 200: Dale Steyn off Harbhajan Singh in 149th Test.
Sachin Tendulkar's feat of becoming the first cricketer in history to score 50 Test centuries "needs to be seen at par with efforts in any field to push the frontiers of human excellence", a leading Pakistani daily said on Tuesday.
"Putting Sachin Tendulkar's latest feat in a strictly cricketing context would not be fair to the sportsman," an editorial in Dawn said.
"His achievements in the world of cricket need to be seen on a par with efforts in any field - science, art, literature, etc - to push the frontiers of human excellence."
Sachin's achievement "speaks volumes for the cricketer's temperament and his ability to adapt to changing times in the sports world", Dawn said.
"In fact, 20 years is a long time in the international sporting arena. Surviving for that long takes courage and determination. It is, as such, also about having enough passion for the game over that long a period to keep one's fitness level at the requisite level.
"Sachin Tendulkar, needless to say, has all these attributes and more - class, for instance. It is no wonder that he has survived two decades, and has, in fact, ruled the cricketing world," the editorial maintained.
Comparing him to Australian legend Don Bradman, Dawn said: "Tendulkar has established himself as the modern era's equivalent of the iconic Don. The many feathers in his cap appear to justify this perception. He has no more points to prove to anyone."
It went on to say that for the cricketing world, "it has been a privilege to watch Sachin Tendulkar demonstrate his remarkable skills. There is hardly anyone who would disagree with this, especially as his talent on the field has been observed for several years now. Today, it is just about celebrating a cricketing giant who goes by the name of Sachin Tendulkar".
The ninth edition of ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 was held in the spectacular islands of West Indies from on March 13, 2007 and April 28, 2007. It is the first time the Cricket World Cup has been held in the Caribbean.
ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 Mascot is an orange mongoose called Mello. Mello is neither an object, animal nor person but instead a youthful, friendly, contemporary character with bright eyes, a big smile and an abundance of personality. Mello represents zest for life. He is in his teens - cheeky and curious - and is socially aware. Mello is aware of the growing HIV epidemic around the world and therefore wears a red ribbon to show his support for the ICC/UNAIDS initiative.
This tournament feature 16 teams, i.e. Australia, South Africa, Scotland, Netherlands, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Bermuda, New Zealand, England, Kenya, Canada, Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland. The teams are divided into four groups. Within each group, the teams will play each other in a round-robin format. Teams will earn points for wins and half-points for ties. The top two teams from each group, a total of eight, will move forward to the "Super 8" round. The top two teams from each group will play the other six teams that progressed from different groups. Teams will earn points in the same way as the group stage, but will also bring points scored against the other team who qualified from the same group to the "Super 8" stage. The top four teams from the "Super 8" round will advance to the semi-finals, and the winners of the semi-finals will compete in the final.
The official Song of ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 has been titled "THE GAME OF LOVE AND UNITY". The song has been sung by Jamaican-born Shaggy, Barbadian entertainer Rupee and Trinidadian Faye-Ann Lyons.
The final match was played between the finalists of 1996 World Cup, Australia and Sri Lanka at the Kensington Oval, Barbados. Australia wins Cricket World Cup 2007 final by 53 runs.
Revenue wise, Cricket World Cup 2007 West Indies, or officially speaking ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, was not a big hit, as the advent of T20 Cricket made people a bit disinterested in ODIs. Also, due to the poor performance of West Indian team, the local crowd was not much interested in the matches of ICC Cricket World Cup 2007. The weather was also not Cricket friendly. Due to this, some games of Cricket World Cup 2007 West Indies were curtailed.
Many teams, including India lost their captain after the world cup debacle. Rahul Dravid was the Indian captain and he was removed from captaincy and wicketkeeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni was made the Indian captain.Overall, Cricket World Cup 2007 West Indies was not a flop, neither a hit. ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 would be remembered as the first hattrick of any international Cricket team to win 3 World Cups in a row.
Iconic Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar is of superior quality as a batsman to the great Sir Don Bradman. That's what a poll conducted by an Australian newspaper has to say. The survey was conducted shortly after Tendulkar set a new world record, becoming the first batsman to score 50 centuries in Test matches, emerged runaway winner over Don Bradman in a poll commissioned by an Australian newspaper on who is the best batsman of all time.
Australian daily 'Sydney Morning Herald' held the exercise asking readers to vote for 'The greatest batsman ever: Badman or Tendulkar?" Sachin Tendulkar secured 67 per cent of the votes as against Bradman's 33 per cent. 20768 cricket fans voted.
Voters apparently took into account the fact that Tendulkar has been a prolific run-scorer in all three formats of the game and has faced a total of 10 countries in the cricketing arena. Bradman however only featured in Tests and played mainly against England.
"Bradman scored a total of 7000 runs of which 5000 plus were against one country. He played only against four countries in an era where not many matches were played in a year. He did not face too many world class bowlers, with the fastest being Larwood who bowled supposedly at 95 mph," another post said.
Some voters felt that Tendulkar has far outstripped Bradman on the basis of the sheer volume of runs he has scored. Plus, they felt that pressure in cricket today is far more palpable than in bygone eras.
"I am Australian. I love Don Bradman... But my unbiased thought is Sachin is greater, said another opinion. Sachin has more than 30,000 Runs. He is playing in an era where every ball is analyzed and taken note of. Yet 12 nations have not found the way to stop this man!" one fan said.
Those who consider Bradman better than Tendulkar felt the Australian legend played on uncovered pitches at a time when there was no helmet and yet he had a near hundred average.
"Bradman - no helmet, uncovered pitches, higher average, no advantage of a modern bat, more centuries per innings -enough said really. Tendulkar is the best in the modern game, but Bradman is hands down the greatest," one cricket fan commented.
Still others believed it was inappropriate to compare the two since they played in two vastly different eras. After all, Bradman was in his heyday when body-line bowling wasn't in vogue before England fast bowler Harold Larwood unsettled him with such in the 1932-33 Ashes series.
"Sounds foolish to compare players from two different eras. Numbers don't count much when the conditions are so different. Same debate has been on comparing Pele and Maradona," a comment said.
Bradman's career spanned 20 years from 1928 to 1948, while Tendulkar has already chalked up 21 years and still going strong. On another count, Tendulkar made his Test debut at the tender age of 16, whereas the Don was 20. Tendulkar scored his maiden Test century at 17 years of age, whereas Bradman was 20 when he notched up the first milestone.
However, the Don finished his career with a staggering average of 99.94, but Tendulkar's is presently on a mere 56.91. Tendulkar has played in 175 Tests to Bradman's 52 in his entire career. Sachin has 50 Test centuries and counting to the Don's 29, but a dozen times, the latter has made double centuries while the former has only reached the double-ton mark six times.
On an occasion before Bradman passed away, he observed from video sources that Tendulkar's batting style uncannily resembled his own. Was the Don reborn as Tendulkar?
Cricket God SachinTendulkar scored his 50th test century against South Africa. He is the only person to score a monumental 50 Test centuries in cricket history.
Sachin Tendulkar reached the coveted landmark when he completed his ton in 197 balls on the fourth day of the first Test against South Africa at SuperSport Park, Centurion on 19th December, 2010. At 7.36 pm Indian time, he pushed Dale Steyn through a heavily manned cover for four, bringing up his 50th Test hundred.
He has scored 11 hundreds against Australia, nine against Sri Lanka, seven against England, six against South Africa, five against Bangladesh, four against New Zealand, three each against West Indies and Zimbabwe and two against Pakistan.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, is born on 7th June, 1981. Dhoni was born and brought up in Ranchi, Bihar (now Jharkhand). His father’s name is Pan Singh and mother’s name is Devki Devi. Dhoni has a sister Jayanti and a brother Narendra.
Dhoni studied at DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir, Shyamali, Ranchi, Jharkhand where he initially excelled in badminton and football and was selected at district and club level in these sports.Dhoni was a goalkeeper for his football team and was sent to play cricket for a local cricket club by his football coach. Though he had not played cricket, Dhoni impressed with his wicket keeping skills and became the regular wicketkeeper at the Commando cricket club. Based on his performance at club cricket, he was picked for the 1997/98 season Vinoo Mankad Trophy Under-16 Championship and he performed well.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni played for the Bihar cricket team during the 1998/99 cricket season and was selected to represent India-A for a tour to Kenya in 2004. Dhoni made multiple centuries against the Pakistan-A team in a tri-nation series and was selected in the Indian national team later in that year.
His one day international debut came after playing five years of first class cricket on the 23rd December, 2004 Vs Bangladesh at Chittagong, Bangladesh. Unfortunately, he was run out on the first ball he faced. It wasn’t a great debut for him where batting is concerned. Luck wasn’t on his side in the first four matches he played. Where as on the fifth match which was played against Pakistan at Visakhapatnam, Dhoni came to the crease at one down and scored 148 runs from just 123 balls. He hit 15 boundaries and four sixes. He got his first Man of the match award that day. This is the highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper. Later in the year, he broke his own record as well as set the current world record for the highest score in the second innings in ODI matches as he scored 183* on 31st of October, 2005 against Srilanka which was played at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur. Adam Gilchrist was the former record holder with 172 runs. Sri Lanka had set India a target of 299 after a Kumar Sangakkara century and in reply, India lost Tendulkar early. Dhoni was promoted to accelerate the scoring and ended the game with an unbeaten 183 off 145 balls, winning the game for India – an innings described in Wisden Almanack (2006) as "Uninhibited, yet anything but crude".
Dhoni's success in the limited overs format secured him a place in the test team. On the 2nd of December 2005, Dhoni made his Test cricket debut against Srilanka which was played in Chennai. Dhoni replaced Dinesh Karthik in December 2005 as the Indian Test wicket-keeper.
Dhoni scored 30 runs in his debut match that was marred by rain. Dhoni came to the crease when the team was struggling at 109/5 and as wickets kept falling around him, he played an aggressive innings and was the last man dismissed. Dhoni made his maiden half-century in the second Test and his quick scoring rate (half century came off 51 balls) aided India to set a target of 436 and the Sri Lankans were bowled out for 247
India toured Pakistan in January/February 2006 and Dhoni scored his maiden century in the second Test at Faisalabad. India were left in a tight spot as Dhoni was joined by Irfan Pathan with the team still 107 away from avoiding follow-on. Dhoni played his typical aggressive innings as he scored his maiden test century in just 93 balls after scoring his first fifty in just 34 deliveries.
Consistent performances in ODI cricket through the end of the 2005/06 season saw Dhoni briefly ranked as the No. 1 batsman in the ICC ODI ratings. Dhoni overtook Ricky Ponting as number one in the ICC ODI rankings for batsmen on 20 April 2006. Dhoni topped the ICC ODI Batsman rankings for several months continuously in 2009, it was Hussy from Australia who replaced him for the top spot in the beginning of 2010.
Dhoni's form dipped through 2006 as India lost matches at the ICC Champions trophy, DLF Cup, away bilateral series against West Indies and South Africa. A return to form in the home series against West Indies and Sri Lanka in early 2007 proved to be an inaccurate indicator of Dhoni's form as India crashed out of the first round in the 2007 Cricket World Cup. Dhoni was out for a duck in both India's losses. After the World Cup, Dhoni won the Man of the series award in the bilateral ODI tournament against Bangladesh.
Dhoni was nominated as the vice-captain of the ODI team for the series against South Africa in Ireland and the subsequent India-England 7-match ODI series. And was elected as captain of Indian Twenty-20 Cricket Team for the World Twenty20 in September 2007. He led India to the ICC World Twenty 20 trophy in South Africa with a victory over arch rivals Pakistan in an intensely fought final on 24 September 2007, and became the second Indian captain to have won a World cup in any form of cricket, after Kapil Dev.
He, then went on to become the ODI captain of the Indian team for the seven-match ODI series against Australia in September 2007.
He made his debut as full-time Test captain of India during the fourth and final test against Australia at Nagpur in November 2008 replacing Anil Kumble who retired from cricket after the third test. India eventually won that Test thus clinching the series 2–0 and retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Dhoni had previously captained India on a stand-in basis against South Africa and Australia in 2008 and 2009 respectively.
Dhoni also led team India to number one position in ICC rankings in test cricket for the first time. Dhoni has also been the recipient of many awards including the ICC ODI Player of the Year award in 2008 and 2009 (the first Indian player to achieve this feat), the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour in 2009.
As of January 2010, Dhoni is the highest ranked ODI batsman on the ICC Rankings List. Dhoni was named as captain of Wisden's first-ever Dream Test XI Team in 2009 and has topped the list of world’s top 10 earning cricketers compiled by Forbes. He was named as the captain of ICC World Test and ICC ODI teams for 2009.
Cricket World Cup - 2003
Mascot: Dazzle, the Zibra
The eighth Cricket World Cup 2003 was held in South Africa between 9th February, 2003 and 23rd March 2003. The official mascot of the tournament was Dazzle, the Zibra.
Foueteen(14) nations participated in the event with their teams to prove their mettle in the 54 matches held during the event.The teams were divided into two groups: Pool A and Pool B, the pools being compiled according to a seeding system devised by the Executive Board of the International Cricket Council. The seedings are based on an international rankings list calculated according to the results of all limited overs internationals between the end of the last Cricket World Cup in June 1999 until the cutoff date of September 30, 2001.
The Australian cricket team has been winning almost every match over the last four years and came to the 8th World Cup in southern Africa as pre-tournament favourites. At the end of it they went home with the trophy, retaining it without losing a single match to became the first in history to win the World Cup for the third time.
They outplayed every opposition they came up against and in every department of the game too, certainly the deserved winners. No matter the toss was won or lost, no matter batted first or bowled first - whatever they did was to perfection and not left to chance.
Shane Warne was sent back home after failing a drug test. Cricket minnos Kenya enter into Semis
In the final against India, they lost both openers after a good start and could have lost more wickets but skipper Ponting and batsman Damien Martyn first made sure there were no further losses. After playing themselves in, both went on a rampage and belted the Indian bowling to every nook and cranny of the Wanderers to pile up a monstrous 359-2, Ponting ending with 140 and Martyn on 88. Despite a fighting 82 from Virender Sehwag , India could only make 234.
The winning team Australia received $2 000 000 cash prize along with the World cup trophy.
To ensure capacity crowd at the stadiums, the organising committee of the 2011 cricket World Cup has decided to distribute free tickets to school and college students.
Tournament director Ratnakar Shetty told reporters here on Thursday that the organising committee is in talks with the sponsors and the host associations to work out how many tickets can be distributed among the students.
"We have decided to distribute free tickets among students. We have lots of sponsorship programmes through which we will be distributing the tickets. State associations will also have some quota for the students. We want the state associations to throw their gates open for the students," said Shetty.
Shetty, who is also the chief administrative officer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), said that free tickets will be given to draw crowds, specially for the non-India matches.
"The real challenge is to bring in people for non-India games and one of the suggestions is to bring in school and college children," he said.
Shetty said that ICC officials have visited Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata to inspect the stadia, which have been renovated.
"All the three stadiums in Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata have undergone massive renovation. We have made sure that the stadiums have better spectator services, media facilities and proper set-up for the broadcaster," he said.
Virender Sehwag was born 20 October 1978, in Delhi. Sehwag affectionately known as Viru, the Nawab of Najafgarh, or the Zen master of modern cricket, is one of the leading batsmen in the Indian cricket team.
He developed a liking for the game of Cricket at quite an early age, and received his education at Arora Vidya School in Delhi where he started learning to play Cricket seriously under the guidance of his coach A.N. Sharma.
He started playing for the Delhi Cricket team in the year 1997-98, and played for North Zone in the Duleep Trophy tournament in the year 1998-99. In the year 1999 he was selected for the National Under-19 Cricket team of India, and was chosen for the National Cricket team 2 years later.
He played his first One Day International in 1999 and joined the Indian Test cricket team in 2001. In April 2009, Sehwag became the only Indian to be honored as the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World for his performance in 2008, subsequently becoming the first player of any nationality to retain the award for 2009.
Sehwag holds multiple records including the highest score by an Indian player in a Test match that he achieved in a match against South Africa played at Chennai on 26th of March 2008. He scored 319 runs off just 278 balls in the match, which was also the fastest Triple Century in Test Cricket.
Sehwag is one of the three batsmen in the world who have scored 2 Triple Centuries in Test Cricket, which was also the fastest triple century in the history of international cricket (reached 300 off only 278 balls) as well as the fastest 250 by any batsman (in 207 balls against Sri Lanka on 3 December 2009 at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai).
Sehwag also holds the distinction of being one of four batsmen in the world to have ever surpassed 300 twice in Test cricket, and the only one to score two triple centuries and take a five-wicket innings haul.
Sehwag smashed the fastest century ever scored by an Indian in ODI cricket, off just 60 balls in an ODI match against New Zealand on 11th of March 2009 at Hamilton.
Sehwag was appointed as vice-captain of the Indian team under Rahul Dravid in October 2005 but due to poor form, he was later replaced by V. V. S. Laxman in December 2006 as Test vice-captain. In January 2007, Sehwag was dropped from the ODI team and later from the Test team as well. During his term as vice-captain, Sehwag skippered the team in place of injured Dravid for 2 ODIs and 1 Test. Following his return to form in 2008 and the retirement of Anil Kumble, Sehwag has been reappointed as the vice-captain for both Tests and ODIs.
ODI Debut
The One Day International (ODI) Cricket career of Virender Sehwag began with an ODI match against Pakistan played in Chandigarh on 1st of April 1999, although he just faced 2 balls by Shoaib Akhtar and got LBW out after scoring a single run in this match. 2 years later, he scored 58 runs off 54 balls in an ODI match against Australia played in Bangalore to win his first Man of the Match award. He also took 3 wickets, giving away 59 runs in this match.
Test Debut
Sehwag debuted in Test Cricket with a Test match against South Africa played at Bloemfontein on 3rd of November 2001. He played an impressive 105 runs in the first innings and 31 runs in the second innings of the match, although he took no wickets and gave away 22 runs in the match.
Achievements:
First ever Indian to score 300 runs in a Test innings
Highest individual score by an Indian in Tests (309)
Highest-ever Test score at over a run-a-ball (254 off 247 balls against Pakistan)
Involved in the highest opening partnership for a Test played away from India (410 with Dravid).
Most Test runs in a single day by an Indian.
He is the third batsman in the history of Test cricket to score two triple centuries, alongside Australia's Sir Donald Bradman, and the West Indies' Brian Lara and Chris Gayle.
Second fastest ODI 50 by an Indian - a record, he shares with Rahul Dravid, Kapil Dev and Yuvraj Singh - when he took 22 balls against Kenya in 2001.
Two consecutive double century partnerships in a Test innings. He achieved this record, for the first two wickets in Chennai on 27–28 March 2008 (with Wasim Jaffer and Rahul Dravid respectively). This was the first time in Test history that the first two wickets in an innings have resulted in double-century stands. He equaled this in the innings against Sri Lanka in Mumbai, combining with Murali Vijay and Dravid for the first and second wickets.
He is the first person in the history of test cricket to hit two triple centuries and take five wickets in a Test innings.
Awards
Arjuna Award in 2002.
Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World in 2008 and 2009.
Saluting the longevity of Sachin Tendulkar, West Indies great Brian Lara has described the Indian batting legend as the ‘Don Bradman’ of modern era but refused to the compare the icons of different eras.
Lara, himself a legendary left-handed batsman from the Caribbean, said what astonishes him the most about Tendulkar is his longevity.- Lara said of his close friend .
The West Indies player is of the opinion that
"Australian great Don Bradman, who ended his career with an incredible Test average of 99.96, and Tendulkar should not be compared as they played and flourished in different eras. Sachin is our period’s Don Bradman. Forget the difference in averages with Bradman but whoever I have spoken to who have seen very old players in action, they believe that he (Bradman) would not have averaged 99 in today’s cricket. So I believe that Sachin is our period’s Bradman,”