Monday 23 May 2011

sachin tendulkar

sachin tendulkar biography
(born April 24, 1973, Bombay [Mumbai], India) Indian professional cricket player, considered by many to be one of the greatest batsmen of all time. In 2005 he became the first cricketer to score 35 centuries (100 runs in a single innings) in Test (international) play.

Tendulkar was given his first bat when he was 11. As a 14-year-old, he used it to score 329 out of a world-record stand of 664 in a school match. A year later he scored a century on his first-class debut for Bombay (Mumbai), and at 16 years 205 days he became India's youngest Test cricketer, making his debut against Pakistan in Karachi in November 1989. When he was 18 he scored two centuries in Australia (148 in Sydney and 114 in Perth), and in 1994 he scored 179 against the West Indies. In August 1996, at age 23, Tendulkar was made captain of his country's team.

Although India was defeated in the semifinals of the 1996 World Cup, Tendulkar emerged as the tournament's top run scorer, with 523 runs. In 1997 he was chosen for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the highest award given to an Indian athlete, for his outstanding performance in the 1997–98 season. India was defeated by Australia in the 1999 World Cup, failing to advance past the round of six, and was soundly defeated by both Australia and South Africa in series later that year. In the 2003 World Cup, however, Tendulkar helped his team advance as far as the finals. Though India was again defeated by Australia, Tendulkar, who averaged 60.2, was named the man of the tournament.

Tendulkar made history in December 2005 when he scored his record-breaking 35th century in Test play against Sri Lanka. The feat was accomplished in a total of 125 Tests and allowed Tendulkar to surpass the prolific Indian run scorer Sunil Gavaskar. In June 2007 Tendulkar reached another major milestone when he became the first player to record 15,000 runs in one-day international (ODI) play, and in January 2010 he became the first batsman to score 13,000 runs in Test play. One month later he scored a historic “double century” in a contest against South Africa, becoming the first man in history to record 200 runs in a single innings of ODI play. Throughout his long career Tendulkar was consistently ranked among the game's best batsmen. He was often likened to Australia's Don Bradman in his single-minded dedication to scoring runs and the certainty of his strokeplay off both front and back foot.

sachin tendulkar

sachin tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar 155 Virender Sehwag 105 SA 2001 PART ONE

Sachin Tendulkar DESTROYS Glenn McGrath-BRUTAL BATTING FROM THE GOD OF CRICKET!

Sunday 22 May 2011

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni biography
Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Personal information
Full name Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Born 7 July 1981 (age 29)
Ranchi, Bihar (now in Jharkhand), India
Nickname Mahi
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Batting style Right-hand batsman
Bowling style Right-hand medium
Role Wicket-keeper, India captain
International information
National side India
Test debut (cap 251) 2 December 2005 v Sri Lanka
Last Test 9 October 2010 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 158) 23 December 2004 v Bangladesh
Last ODI 02 April 2011 v Sri Lanka
ODI shirt no. 7
Domestic team information
Years Team
1999/00 – 2004/05 Bihar
2004/05- Jharkhand
2008– Chennai Super Kings
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 54 185 95 241
Runs scored 2,925 5,958 5087 7,960
Batting average 40.06 48.08 37.40 47.95
100s/50s 4/20 7/37 7/34 13/48
Top score 148 183* 148 183*
Balls bowled 12 12 42 39
Wickets 0 1 0 2
Bowling average – 14.00 - 18.00
5 wickets in innings - - - -
10 wickets in match - - - -
Best bowling 0/1 - - 1/14
Catches/stumpings 148/25 180/60 256/44 247/75
Source: Cricinfo, 21 February 2011
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, pronunciation (help·info) (Hindi: महेन्द्र सिंह धोनी ) (born July 7, 1981 in Ranchi, Bihar) (now in Jharkhand) is an Indian cricketer and the current captain of the Indian national cricket team.
Initially recognized as an extravagantly flamboyant and destructive batsman, Dhoni has come to be regarded as one of the coolest heads to captain the Indian ODI side. Under his captaincy, India won the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, CB Series of 2007–08 , the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2008 and 2010 against Australia 2–0 and 2011 Cricket World Cup in which India beat every previous world cup winning team. His Test, ODI record is best among all the Indian captains to date. He also captained Chennai Super Kings to victory in the recent IPL 2010 and in the Champions League. He is now captain of India in all three forms of the game and also led the team to their first ever bilateral ODI series wins in Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Under Dhoni's captaincy India became the first team after a gap of more than 20 Years to whitewash Australia in a Test series. Dhoni also led the Indian team to the 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. 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.[1] He was named as the captain of ICC World Test and ICC ODI teams for 2009. In the final of the 2011 Cricket World Cup, he hit 91 not out of just 79 balls to lead India to victory. For his outstanding batting in the final, he was awarded as the man of the match. The TIME magazine added him in its "Time 100" list of 100 most influential people of 2011.[2] According to the SportsPro magazine Dhoni is 10th most valuable brand in field of sports worldwide and number 1 among all Asian superstars.[3]

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's fifth century(124) highlights

Dhoni 183 against Srilanka

Irfan Khan Pathan

Irfan Khan Pathan biography
Irfan Khan Pathan (Hindi: इरफ़ान ख़ान पठान, Urdu:عرفان خان پٹھان) pronunciation (help·info), born October 27, 1984 in Baroda, Gujarat, India) is an Indian cricketer who made his debut for India in late-2003 and was a core member of the national team until a decline in form set in during 2006, forcing him out of the team. Since then, he has been in and out of the limited-overs team, and has only sporadic appearances in Test cricket.
Beginning his career as a left-arm fast-medium swing bowler, Pathan broke into the national team soon after turning 19, and evoked comparisons with Pakistan's Wasim Akram, regarded as one of the finest left-arm pacemen of all time, with his promising performances and prodigious swing. He cemented his position in the team and was named by the International Cricket Council as the 2004 Emerging Player of the Year. In late-2004 he took 18 wickets in two Tests against Bangladesh, but the start of 2005 he performed poorly and conceded runs at a high rate, leading to a brief exile from the one-day international (ODI) team. Immediately thereafter, Australian Greg Chappell, one of the leading batsmen of his time, became India's coach and identified Pathan's batting potential. The bowler improved his batting skills to become a bowling all-rounder, and he opened the batting on occasions in ODIs and scored 93 in a Test match in the role after an illness to Virender Sehwag. He made three scores beyond 80 in the space of four Test innings. For the first nine months of Chappell's stint at the helm, Pathan performed strongly with both bat and ball, scoring runs regularly and frequently taking top-order wickets. He rose to No. 2 in the ICC's ODI rankings for all-rounders and was also in the top five in the Test rankings. This led critics to compare him to former Indian pace bowling allrounder Kapil Dev.[1] In early 2006, Pathan became the first and only bowler to take a Test hat-trick in the first over of the match. However, the productive run did not last and after the start of 2006, Pathan began to steadily lose pace and swing, and his wicket-taking dwindled. Although Pathan's batting continued to be productive, he was not regarded as a specialist and was dropped from the team in both Tests and ODIs by the end of 2006, and by 2007 was no longer in the squad.
He returned to international cricket in September 2007 for the inaugural World Twenty20, where he took three wickets and was man of the match as India beat Pakistan in the final. This earned him a recall into the ODI team, where he was a regular for most of the next 12 months before being dropped as his economy rate continued to trend upwards. In late-2007 Pathan was recalled into the Test team and hit his maiden Test century, but could not maintain his place in the team as his bowling was not effective enough with only two pacemen needed. He continues to perform with both bat and ball at domestic level, although his sedate pace is frequently criticised as being irrelevant at international level.

Irfan Khan Pathan

Irfan Pathan Hat-trick

Irfan Pathan with the new ball

Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir biography

Gautam Gambhir (born 14 October 1981, in Delhi) is an Indian opening batsman. He has been a member of the Indian national cricket team since 2003 (ODIs) and 2004 (Tests). Gambhir had been a prolific run-scorer in domestic cricket with an average of over 50 but his two successive double-hundreds in 2002 (one of them against the visiting Zimbabweans) made him a strong contender for India's opening slot. He became only the fourth Indian batsman to score a double century in a tour game at home; the previous three being Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar and Sachin Tendulkar. Gambhir was educated at the Modern School, New Delhi. Gambhir was selected in 2000 for the first intake of the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. He made his ODI debut against Bangladesh in the TVS Cup in 2003. In his third match, he scored 71 and was named Man of the Match. His maiden century {103 off 97 balls) came against Sri Lanka in 2005. In 2004, he made his Test debut against Australia in the fourth and last Test match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy but did himself no favours by getting out for 3 and 1. He made amends in his second Test, however, scoring 96 against the South Africans. His maiden Test century came against Bangladesh in December 2004. Gambhir then made a number of starts in the home series against Pakistan in 2005, but was able to make only one half-century in six innings. He made 97 in Zimbabwe later that year, but failed to reach 30 against Sri Lanka at home, repeatedly struggling against Chaminda Vaas, and was subsequently dropped from the Test team. He was replaced in Tests by Wasim Jaffer, who made a double hundred and a hundred in seven Tests. He has often been criticized as not being able to convert his starts of 20 and 30 into larger scores and his string of poor scores is continually cited as evidence for this assertion. While he has been out of the Test team, he has played a number of One Day Internationals for India between 2005 and 2007. However, he was not selected for the 2007 Cricket World Cup as the selectors opted for a top-order of Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, and Sachin Tendulkar. After India's first-round exit from the tournament, Gambhir was selected for the One Day International on India's 2007 tour of Bangladesh. Gambhir scored his second century on that tour and was subsequently selected for the One Day International on India's tour to Ireland in 2007. He scored an unbeaten 80 against Ireland in the first game of that tour and was awarded the man of the match award for that effort. In the post-match interview, he indicated that performing more consistently was a top priority for his career as he had done so in the past. If he does become more consistent, he could cement his place as a One Day International opener in the Indian cricket team. Gambhir was selected in India's squad for the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, which India went on to win in South Africa, beating Pakistan in the final. Gambhir performed well in the shortest form of the game, ending the tournament as India's top run scorer, with 227 at an average of 37.83, including three half-centuries which included a crucial 75 runs off 54 balls against Pakistan in the final. 2008 started well for Gambhir. At home, he scored an unbeaten 130 in the Ranji Trophy final to help Delhi beat Uttar Pradesh by nine wickets just two days before the team for the ODI tournament in Australia was to be announced. Gambhir was forced to miss the Test series in Australia due to a shoulder injury. In the 2007-08 CB Series, he scored an unbeaten 102 at the Gabba against Sri Lanka in a match washed out due to rain. Three weeks later at Sydney, he scored a career-best 113 off 119 balls against Australia, in a high scoring match which India lost by 18 runs. He finished the CB series as the leading run-scorer with 440 runs. In 2008 Gautam finally solidified his place in the Indian Test team with a string of high scores. Opening the batting with Delhi teammate Virender Sehwag, he scored 858 runs at over 61 in seven matches as of December including a double century vs. Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. However in the same match he was involved in controversy when he was found to have thrown an elbow at Australia all-rounder Shane Watson while taking a run. Gambhir denied the charges in a media conference, claiming the elbow was unintentional, but pleaded guilty in the hearing and served a one-Test ban for the incident.

Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir running wild on Umar Gul

IPL 2009: Best of Gautam Gambhir

Mohammad Hafeez

Mohammad Hafeez biography

Mohammad Hafeez (born October 17, 1980 in Sargodha) is a Pakistani cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm offbreak bowler. Hafeez generally opens the batting and is also skillful boundary fielder. Hafeez was one of the several young all-rounders the Pakistani cricket team turned to after their poor Cricket World Cup display in 2003, in which they were eliminated in the first round. Hafeez scored a half-century on his Test debut against Bangladesh, and in his following Test hit a century. His form with bat and ball would then drop considerably and in late-2003 he was dropped from the Test squad, and soon after the ODI side. With strong domestic performances as well as good showings for the Pakistan A, he remained on the fringes of a recall in 2004. Hafeez returned to the ODI side in 2005 and despite not contributing with the bat, his bowling performances were impressive. In the 2006 Top End Series held in Australia, Hafeez smashed a century for Pakistan A. With Pakistan struggling to find a solid opening pair for Test cricket, Hafeez was recalled for the tour of England. His return to Test cricket was made at The Oval and he scored a fluent 95. Later that year in November, Hafeez retained his place in the side for their home series against the West Indies. After getting starts in the first two Test he would go on to score his 2nd Test century in the 3rd Test in Karachi.

Mohammad Hafeez

Mohammad Hafeez - The Professor

Mohammad Hafeez bolds Ricky Ponting

Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag biography
Virender Sehwag pronunciation (help·info) (Hindi: वीरेंद्र सेहवाग) (born 20 October 1978), affectionately known as Viru, the Nawab of Najafgarh, or the Zen master of modern cricket,[3][4] is one of the leading batsmen in the Indian cricket team. Sehwag is an aggressive right-handed opening batsman and a part-time right-arm off-spin bowler. 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,[5] subsequently becoming the first player of any nationality to retain the award for 2009.[6]
Sehwag holds multiple records including the highest score made by an Indian in Test cricket (319), 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.[7] In March 2009, Sehwag smashed the fastest century ever scored by an Indian in ODI cricket, from 60 balls.[8]
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.[9] During his term as vice-captain, Sehwag skippered the team in place of injured Dravid in 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. By early 2009, Sehwag had reestablished himself as one of the best performing batsmen in ODI cricket.[10]

Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag (viru) tribute

Virender Sehwag 126(104) - India v England Champions Trophy at Colombo 2002

Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag biography
Virender Sehwag born 20 October 1978, in Delhi, India, 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. Sehwag is an aggressive right-handed opening batsman and a part-time right-arm off-spin bowler. 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,[5] subsequently becoming the first player of any nationality to retain the award for 2009.

Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag 195 vs Aussie

Virender Sehwag 108 vs New Zealand 2nd ODI 2002/03