PLAYER PROFILE:
Full name: Sanath Teran Jayasuriya
Born: June 30, 1969, Matara
Current age: 38 years 285 days
Major teams: Sri Lanka, Asia XI, Asia XI, Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club, Colombo Cricket Club, Marylebone Cricket Club, Mumbai Indians, Ruhuna, Somerset
Batting style: Left-hand bat
Bowling style: Slow left-arm orthodox
CAREER STATISTICS:
Test debut:
New Zealand v Sri Lanka at Hamilton, Feb 22-26, 1991
ODI debut:
Australia v Sri Lanka at Melbourne, Dec 26, 1989
ACHIVEMENTS:
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1997
PROFILE:
One of the world's most uncompromising strikers of the ball, Jayasuriya found belated fame as a pinch-hitter at the 1996 World Cup, and then demonstrated that he was also capable of massive scoring in Tests, eventually becoming Sri Lanka's highest Test run-scorer. He remains dizzily dangerous, especially on the subcontinent's slower, less bouncy surfaces. Short in stature and powerfully built, he cuts and pulls with awesome power, and his brutal bat-wielding is at odds with his shy, gentle nature. Wised-up opponents have learned to set traps in the gully and at third man to stem the flow of runs, but on song he can be virtually unstoppable, capable of scoring freely on both sides of the wicket.
Jayasuriya is also an extremely effective and canny left-arm spinner, especially in one-day internationals where his stock leg-stump darts are mixed up with clever variations in pace. Jayasuriya served commendably as Sri Lanka's captain for a successful tenure after the sacking of Arjuna Ranatunga in 1999. His leadership style was consensual in comparison to the Napoleon approach adopted by Ranatunga, and he soon built a happy and unified team. The huge responsibility of leading the team, though, started to show and by the 2003 World Cup, after a myriad of off-field controversies, it was clear that he had become a reluctant captain. He eventually resigned in April 2003.
Having stepped down, his position in the side was more vigorously debated and a one-day slump prompted several pundits to call time on his career. But Jayasuriya was far from finished, and he bounced back in 2004 with his most prolific year in Test cricket since 1997. The year included a blazing second-innings century against Australia at Kandy that nearly levelled the series and a marathon double-hundred against Pakistan at Faisalabad. Twin centuries followed during the Asia Cup 2004 and his form was impressive enough for Somerset to sign him up for a season of County Cricket in 2005. And in the Indian Oil Cup in 2005, Jayasuriya became only the fourth batsman to get to 10,000 runs in one-day cricket.
He retired in 2006, only to almost immediately retract his decision. After behind-the-scenes machinations which hinted at internal power struggles between board and coach, he was shoehorned into the squad for the Test series in England but did not play. He bounced back in typical form, however, in the one-day series that followed, showing he has a few more miles left on the clock.
At the age of 38, Jayasuriya scored 467 runs during the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies and was the oldest player in the World Twenty20 that followed in South Africa. He called time on his Test career during the first Test against England in Kandy in 2007-08, and bowed out with a cracking 78 in his final innings.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
BRAIN LARA
PLAYER PROFILE:
Full name: Brian Charles Lara
Born: May 2, 1969, Cantaro, Santa Cruz, Trinidad
Current age: 38 years 344 days
Major teams: West Indies, ICC World XI, Mumbai Champs, Northern Transvaal, Trinidad & Tobago, Warwickshire
Batting style; Left-hand bat
Bowling style: Legbreak googly
Height: 5 ft 8 inches
Education: Fatima College, Trinidad
CAREER STATISTICS:
Test debut:
Pakistan v West Indies at Lahore, Dec 6-11, 1990
ODI debut:
Pakistan v West Indies at Karachi, Nov 9, 1990
ACHIVEMENTS:
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1995
PROFILE:
The 10th of 11 children, Brian Lara learnt his game at the Harvard Coaching Clinic, where he was enrolled at the age of six, and although at school he played for Trinidad's junior football and table tennis side, it was cricket which really drew him. Aged 14, he made 745 runs at 126.16, earning him selection for the Trinidad Under-16 team. A year later he was in the West Indies Under-19 side. In 1990, aged 20, Lara became Trinidad and Tobago's youngest captain, leading them to victory in the Geddes Grant Shield. In that year he made his Test debut, scoring 44 and 6 against Pakistan. No-one since Bradman has built massive scores as often and as fast as Lara in his pomp. Even his stance was thrilling - the bat raised high in the air, the weight poised on a bent front knee, the eyes low and level. Then the guillotine would fall, sending the ball flashing to the boundary. In the space of two months in 1994, Lara's 375 and 501 not out broke world records for the highest Test and first-class scores, but sudden fame turned him into a confused and contradictory figure. During an inventive but largely fruitless spell as captain of a fading team, Lara reiterated his genius by single-handedly defying the 1998-99 Australian tourists with a sequence of 213, 8, 153 not out and 100. For a while, excess weight and hamstring problems hampered his once-lightning footwork, and the torrent of runs became an occasional spurt. But after Garry Sobers suggested a tweak to his flourishing backlift, Lara returned to his best in Sri Lanka in 2001-02, with 221 and 130 in one Test and 688 runs - a record 42% of West Indies' output - in the series, and reclaimed the captaincy the following year.
The task proved as hard second time round, leading a side where he was far and away the best player and where discipline was a constant worry. He led them to defeat for a second time in South Africa, and then lost to England in the Caribbean, too. But then, just when all hope seemed to have deserted West Indies cricket, Lara responded to the prospect of a home series whitewash with an astonishing unbeaten 400 in the final Test against England in Antigua. In doing so, he became the first man to reclaim the world Test batting record, a feat that ensured he would stand alongside Shane Warne as the most charismatic cricketer of the modern era.
Then followed a spectacular low, when Bangladesh came visiting and had West Indies in trouble in the one-day series and the first Test, prompting Lara to threaten his resignation if his batsmen did not lift their game. They responded in the following game, and Lara captained the side in England, where the team was beaten in every Test they played. Astonishingly, he then galvanised his charges and led the one-day team to victory in the ICC Champions Trophy to spark off hopes of a West Indies resurgence. But it was under Shivnarine Chanderpaul that Lara registered his next big moment - in Adelaide in November 2005, when he went past Allan Border's tally of 11174 runs to become Test cricket's most prolific scorer. Then in April 2006, after protracted dispute between the West Indies board and the players union (WIPA), he was reinstated - for the third time - as West Indies captain. Lara's leadership in the five-match one-day home series against India came in for much praise as the tourists were knocked over 4-1, but in the succeeding Test series he struggled. His captaincy was erratic - inspiring in parts, questionable on many occasions - though he later revealed that his hands were tied due to peripheral issues related to team selection.
In Pakistan he led by example with the bat but results continued to go against his side and as West Indies struggled both on and off the field, it became increasingly obvious that Lara was unable to inspire them to greater things, and he appeared increasingly at odds with many of his team-mates. The World Cup offered him a chance to bow out on home soil and on a high, but it was not to be. He showed glimpses of his abilities, but one fifty in seven innings was not enough as West Indies went out with a whimper. He quit, one ODI short of his 300, amid rumours of bitter disputes with administrators. It was a sad, but perhaps inevitable, way for such a genius to bow out.
Full name: Brian Charles Lara
Born: May 2, 1969, Cantaro, Santa Cruz, Trinidad
Current age: 38 years 344 days
Major teams: West Indies, ICC World XI, Mumbai Champs, Northern Transvaal, Trinidad & Tobago, Warwickshire
Batting style; Left-hand bat
Bowling style: Legbreak googly
Height: 5 ft 8 inches
Education: Fatima College, Trinidad
CAREER STATISTICS:
Test debut:
Pakistan v West Indies at Lahore, Dec 6-11, 1990
ODI debut:
Pakistan v West Indies at Karachi, Nov 9, 1990
ACHIVEMENTS:
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1995
PROFILE:
The 10th of 11 children, Brian Lara learnt his game at the Harvard Coaching Clinic, where he was enrolled at the age of six, and although at school he played for Trinidad's junior football and table tennis side, it was cricket which really drew him. Aged 14, he made 745 runs at 126.16, earning him selection for the Trinidad Under-16 team. A year later he was in the West Indies Under-19 side. In 1990, aged 20, Lara became Trinidad and Tobago's youngest captain, leading them to victory in the Geddes Grant Shield. In that year he made his Test debut, scoring 44 and 6 against Pakistan. No-one since Bradman has built massive scores as often and as fast as Lara in his pomp. Even his stance was thrilling - the bat raised high in the air, the weight poised on a bent front knee, the eyes low and level. Then the guillotine would fall, sending the ball flashing to the boundary. In the space of two months in 1994, Lara's 375 and 501 not out broke world records for the highest Test and first-class scores, but sudden fame turned him into a confused and contradictory figure. During an inventive but largely fruitless spell as captain of a fading team, Lara reiterated his genius by single-handedly defying the 1998-99 Australian tourists with a sequence of 213, 8, 153 not out and 100. For a while, excess weight and hamstring problems hampered his once-lightning footwork, and the torrent of runs became an occasional spurt. But after Garry Sobers suggested a tweak to his flourishing backlift, Lara returned to his best in Sri Lanka in 2001-02, with 221 and 130 in one Test and 688 runs - a record 42% of West Indies' output - in the series, and reclaimed the captaincy the following year.
The task proved as hard second time round, leading a side where he was far and away the best player and where discipline was a constant worry. He led them to defeat for a second time in South Africa, and then lost to England in the Caribbean, too. But then, just when all hope seemed to have deserted West Indies cricket, Lara responded to the prospect of a home series whitewash with an astonishing unbeaten 400 in the final Test against England in Antigua. In doing so, he became the first man to reclaim the world Test batting record, a feat that ensured he would stand alongside Shane Warne as the most charismatic cricketer of the modern era.
Then followed a spectacular low, when Bangladesh came visiting and had West Indies in trouble in the one-day series and the first Test, prompting Lara to threaten his resignation if his batsmen did not lift their game. They responded in the following game, and Lara captained the side in England, where the team was beaten in every Test they played. Astonishingly, he then galvanised his charges and led the one-day team to victory in the ICC Champions Trophy to spark off hopes of a West Indies resurgence. But it was under Shivnarine Chanderpaul that Lara registered his next big moment - in Adelaide in November 2005, when he went past Allan Border's tally of 11174 runs to become Test cricket's most prolific scorer. Then in April 2006, after protracted dispute between the West Indies board and the players union (WIPA), he was reinstated - for the third time - as West Indies captain. Lara's leadership in the five-match one-day home series against India came in for much praise as the tourists were knocked over 4-1, but in the succeeding Test series he struggled. His captaincy was erratic - inspiring in parts, questionable on many occasions - though he later revealed that his hands were tied due to peripheral issues related to team selection.
In Pakistan he led by example with the bat but results continued to go against his side and as West Indies struggled both on and off the field, it became increasingly obvious that Lara was unable to inspire them to greater things, and he appeared increasingly at odds with many of his team-mates. The World Cup offered him a chance to bow out on home soil and on a high, but it was not to be. He showed glimpses of his abilities, but one fifty in seven innings was not enough as West Indies went out with a whimper. He quit, one ODI short of his 300, amid rumours of bitter disputes with administrators. It was a sad, but perhaps inevitable, way for such a genius to bow out.
YUVARAJ SINGH(YUVI)
PLAYER PROFILE:
Full name: Yuvraj Singh
Born: December 12, 1981, Chandigarh
Current age: 26 years 120 days
Major teams: India, Asia XI, Kings XI Punjab, Punjab, Yorkshire
Batting style: Left-hand bat
Bowling style: Slow left-arm orthodox
Relations Father: - B Yograj Singh
CAREER STATISTICS:
Test debut:
India v New Zealand at Mohali, Oct 16-20, 2003
ODI debut:
Kenya v India at Nairobi (Gym), Oct 3, 2000
PROFILE:
Generously gifted, Yuvraj Singh is looked upon as a strong, fearless natural destined for great things. Two months short of his 19th birthday, he made an almost messianic entry into international cricket, toppling Australia in the Nairobi Mini-World Cup in 2000-01, with a blistering 84 and some scintillating fielding. In time he was to supplement these skills with clever, loopy left-arm spin. While Yuvraj's ability to hit the ball long and clean were instantly recognised, he was soon found to be troubled by quality spin and perceived to lack commitment, traits for which he temporarily lost his place in the one-day side. But on returning, for the last two one-dayers against Zimbabwe in early 2002, he swung the series India's way with a matchwinning innings in each game, and then went to England and played a key role in three Indian chases in their dream run in the NatWest tri-series. It took 15 months more, and an injury to his captain, Sourav Ganguly, for Yuvraj to get a Test look-in. On the third such opportunity, against Pakistan on the first day on a greentop at Lahore, he stroked a stunning century off 110 balls. The 2005-06 season proved to be a watershed for Yuvraj, with 1161 runs at 58 in the one-dayers, as he transformed himself into one of the keystones in India's batting line-up. He was soon preferred over VVS Laxman in Tests when India went in with five batsmen, but a lean series in the West Indies meant that he was still struggling to match potential with performance. Yuvraj picked up his form in one-day cricket, and overcame a knee injury sustained before the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy to book a spot to the 2007 World Cup. India were knocked out early, but Yuvraj continued his form through the year. There were two highlights in the second half of the year: the first, a record six sixes in one Stuart Broad over in a 12-ball fifty during India's fairytale run at the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa, and an awesome Test hundred against Pakistan at Bangalore, which swung the momentum back India's way. Yuvraj was included in India's Test squad for a four-Test series in Australia.
Full name: Yuvraj Singh
Born: December 12, 1981, Chandigarh
Current age: 26 years 120 days
Major teams: India, Asia XI, Kings XI Punjab, Punjab, Yorkshire
Batting style: Left-hand bat
Bowling style: Slow left-arm orthodox
Relations Father: - B Yograj Singh
CAREER STATISTICS:
Test debut:
India v New Zealand at Mohali, Oct 16-20, 2003
ODI debut:
Kenya v India at Nairobi (Gym), Oct 3, 2000
PROFILE:
Generously gifted, Yuvraj Singh is looked upon as a strong, fearless natural destined for great things. Two months short of his 19th birthday, he made an almost messianic entry into international cricket, toppling Australia in the Nairobi Mini-World Cup in 2000-01, with a blistering 84 and some scintillating fielding. In time he was to supplement these skills with clever, loopy left-arm spin. While Yuvraj's ability to hit the ball long and clean were instantly recognised, he was soon found to be troubled by quality spin and perceived to lack commitment, traits for which he temporarily lost his place in the one-day side. But on returning, for the last two one-dayers against Zimbabwe in early 2002, he swung the series India's way with a matchwinning innings in each game, and then went to England and played a key role in three Indian chases in their dream run in the NatWest tri-series. It took 15 months more, and an injury to his captain, Sourav Ganguly, for Yuvraj to get a Test look-in. On the third such opportunity, against Pakistan on the first day on a greentop at Lahore, he stroked a stunning century off 110 balls. The 2005-06 season proved to be a watershed for Yuvraj, with 1161 runs at 58 in the one-dayers, as he transformed himself into one of the keystones in India's batting line-up. He was soon preferred over VVS Laxman in Tests when India went in with five batsmen, but a lean series in the West Indies meant that he was still struggling to match potential with performance. Yuvraj picked up his form in one-day cricket, and overcame a knee injury sustained before the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy to book a spot to the 2007 World Cup. India were knocked out early, but Yuvraj continued his form through the year. There were two highlights in the second half of the year: the first, a record six sixes in one Stuart Broad over in a 12-ball fifty during India's fairytale run at the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa, and an awesome Test hundred against Pakistan at Bangalore, which swung the momentum back India's way. Yuvraj was included in India's Test squad for a four-Test series in Australia.
ANIL KUMBLE
PLAYER PROFILE:
Full name: Anil Kumble
Born: October 17, 1970, Bangalore, Karnataka
Current age: 37 years 176 days
Major teams: India, Asia XI, Bangalore Royal Challengers, Karnataka, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Surrey
Batting style: Right-hand bat
Bowling style: Legbreak googly
CAREER STATISTICS:
Test debut:
England v India at Manchester, Aug 9-14, 1990
ODI debut:
India v Sri Lanka at Sharjah, Apr 25, 1990
ACHIVEMENTS:
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1996
PROFILE:
No bowler in history has won India more Test matches than Anil Kumble, and there probably hasn't been a harder trier either. Like the great tall wristspinners Bill O'Reilly and his own idol BS Chandrasekhar, Kumble trades the legspinner's proverbial yo-yo for a spear, as the ball hacks through the air rather than hanging in it and comes off the pitch with a kick rather than a kink. It is a method that has provided him stunning success, particularly on Indian soil, where his deliveries burst like packets of water upon the feeblest hint of a crack, and more than one modern-day batsman has remarked that there is no more difficult challenge in cricket than handling Kumble on a wearing surface.
Kumble's prodigious capacity to bear pain was proved in Antigua in 2002 when he bandaged his fractured jaw to deliver a stirring spell, and that to continuously learn when, in the mid-2000s, after a decade of middling away performances, he influenced memorable wins in Headingley, Adelaide, Multan and Kingston, using an improved googly, bigger sidespin and more variation in flight and on the crease.
In a brilliant though always downplayed career Kumble has claimed virtually every Indian record. In 1999 in Delhi he swallowed all ten wickets in an innings against Pakistan. In December 2001, on home turf in Bangalore, he became the India's first spinner to take 300 Test wickets. A year later, almost to the day, he became the first to do so in one-dayers. In August 2007 at The Oval he went past Glenn McGrath's 563 wickets and in January 2008 he broke the 600 barrier, to stand behind only Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan, emphasising his contribution to spin's golden era. And at The Oval he chalked up what, judging by the pure ecstasy of his reaction and the dressing room's, was perhaps his most cherished feat of all - a Test century that had been 17 years and 118 matches in the coming.
Less than a month after his 37th birthday, though, he received the ultimate honour when he was named India's Test captain for the home series against Pakistan. He went on to win the series, the first home triumph against Pakistan in 27 years, before playing a big role in holding the side together during the controversial series in Australia
Full name: Anil Kumble
Born: October 17, 1970, Bangalore, Karnataka
Current age: 37 years 176 days
Major teams: India, Asia XI, Bangalore Royal Challengers, Karnataka, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Surrey
Batting style: Right-hand bat
Bowling style: Legbreak googly
CAREER STATISTICS:
Test debut:
England v India at Manchester, Aug 9-14, 1990
ODI debut:
India v Sri Lanka at Sharjah, Apr 25, 1990
ACHIVEMENTS:
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1996
PROFILE:
No bowler in history has won India more Test matches than Anil Kumble, and there probably hasn't been a harder trier either. Like the great tall wristspinners Bill O'Reilly and his own idol BS Chandrasekhar, Kumble trades the legspinner's proverbial yo-yo for a spear, as the ball hacks through the air rather than hanging in it and comes off the pitch with a kick rather than a kink. It is a method that has provided him stunning success, particularly on Indian soil, where his deliveries burst like packets of water upon the feeblest hint of a crack, and more than one modern-day batsman has remarked that there is no more difficult challenge in cricket than handling Kumble on a wearing surface.
Kumble's prodigious capacity to bear pain was proved in Antigua in 2002 when he bandaged his fractured jaw to deliver a stirring spell, and that to continuously learn when, in the mid-2000s, after a decade of middling away performances, he influenced memorable wins in Headingley, Adelaide, Multan and Kingston, using an improved googly, bigger sidespin and more variation in flight and on the crease.
In a brilliant though always downplayed career Kumble has claimed virtually every Indian record. In 1999 in Delhi he swallowed all ten wickets in an innings against Pakistan. In December 2001, on home turf in Bangalore, he became the India's first spinner to take 300 Test wickets. A year later, almost to the day, he became the first to do so in one-dayers. In August 2007 at The Oval he went past Glenn McGrath's 563 wickets and in January 2008 he broke the 600 barrier, to stand behind only Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan, emphasising his contribution to spin's golden era. And at The Oval he chalked up what, judging by the pure ecstasy of his reaction and the dressing room's, was perhaps his most cherished feat of all - a Test century that had been 17 years and 118 matches in the coming.
Less than a month after his 37th birthday, though, he received the ultimate honour when he was named India's Test captain for the home series against Pakistan. He went on to win the series, the first home triumph against Pakistan in 27 years, before playing a big role in holding the side together during the controversial series in Australia
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
RAHUL DRAVID("THE WALL")
PLAYER PROFILE:
Full name: Rahul Sharad Dravid
Born: January 11, 1973, Indore, Madhya Pradesh
Current age: 35 years 89 days
Major teams: India, Scotland, Asia XI, ICC World XI, Karnataka, Kent
Nickname: The Wall
Batting style: Right-hand bat
Bowling style: Right-arm offbreak
Fielding position: Occasional wicketkeeper
Education: St. Joseph's Boys' High School
DEBUTS:
Test debut:
England v India at Lord's, Jun 20-24, 1996
England v India at Lord's, Jun 20-24, 1996
ODI debut:
India v Sri Lanka at Singapore, Apr 3, 1996
India v Sri Lanka at Singapore, Apr 3, 1996
ACHIVEMENTS:
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2000
ICC Test Player of the Year 2004
ICC Player of the Year 2004
PROFILE:
Rahul Dravid, a cricketer who seamlessly blends an old-world classicism with a new-age professionalism, is the best No. 3 batsman to play for India - and might even be considered one of the best ever by the time his career is done. He already averages around 60 at that position, more than any regular No. 3 batsman in the game's history, barring Don Bradman. Unusually for an Indian batsman, he also averages more overseas - around 60, again - than at home. But impressive as his statistics are, they cannot represent the extent of his importance to India, or the beauty of his batsmanship
When Dravid began playing Test cricket, he was quickly stereotyped as a technically correct player capable of stonewalling against the best attacks - his early nickname was 'The Wall' - but of little else. As the years went by, though, Dravid, a sincere batsman who brought humility and a deep intelligence to his study of the game, grew in stature, finally reaching full blossom under Sourav Ganguly's captaincy. As a New India emerged, so did a new Dravid: first, he put on the wicketkeeping gloves in one-dayers, and transformed himself into an astute finisher in the middle-order; then, he strung together a series of awe-inspiring performances in Test matches, as India crept closer and closer to their quest of an overseas series win.
Dravid's golden phase began, arguably, in Kolkata 2001, with a supporting act, when he made 180 to supplement VVS Laxman's classic effort of 281 against Australia. But from then on, Dravid became India's most valuable player, saving them Tests at Port Elizabeth, Georgetown and Trent Bridge, winning them Tests at Headlingley, Adelaide, Kandy and Rawalpindi. At one point during this run, he carved up four centuries in successive innings, and hit four double-centuries in the space of 15 Tests, including in historic away-wins at Adelaide and Rawalpindi. As India finished off the 2004 Pakistan tour on a winning note, on the back of Dravid's epic 270, his average crept past Sachin Tendulkar's - and it seemed no aberration.
Dravid's amazing run was no triumph of substance over style, though, for he has plenty of both. A classical strokeplayer who plays every shot in the book, he often outscores team-mates like Tendulkar and Laxman in the course of partnerships with them, and while his pulling and cover-driving is especially breathtaking, he has every other shot in the book as well. He is both an artist and a craftsman, repeatedly constructing innings that stand out not merely for the beauty of their execution, but for the context in which they come. By the time he entered his 30s, Dravid was already in the pantheon of great Indian batsmen, alongside Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar.
Dravid's amazing run was no triumph of substance over style, though, for he has plenty of both. A classical strokeplayer who plays every shot in the book, he often outscores team-mates like Tendulkar and Laxman in the course of partnerships with them, and while his pulling and cover-driving is especially breathtaking, he has every other shot in the book as well. He is both an artist and a craftsman, repeatedly constructing innings that stand out not merely for the beauty of their execution, but for the context in which they come. By the time he entered his 30s, Dravid was already in the pantheon of great Indian batsmen, alongside Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar.
In October 2005, he was appointed captain the one-day side, began with a thumping 6-1 hammering of Sri Lanka in a home series, and was soon given responsibility of the Test side as well, taking over from the controversy-shrouded Sourav Ganguly. While his captaincy stint started encouragingly with ODI victories against Pakistan and England, it soon nosedived with an embarrassing defeat against Bangladesh which led to an early exit from the 2007 World Cup. As a Test team, though, India had plenty to celebrate under Dravid, winning their first Test in South Africa and achieving two historic away series wins in the West Indies and England. Dravid stepped down from the captaincy after the 2007 England tour. A poor run in a one-day series at home against Australia saw Dravid dropped from the subsequent series against Pakistan. As he waited for the Tests to begin, Dravid notched up two centuries, one a double, in consecutive Ranji Trophy games for his state side, Karnataka. Amit Varma November 2007
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
UPDATED ICC TESTS RANKINGS
06/04/2008
TEAMS MATCHES POINTS RATING
AUSTRALIA 33 4650 141
INDIA 38 4206 111
SOUTHAFRICA 40 4345 109
ENGLAND 44 4771 108
SRILANKA 35 3709 106
PAKISTAN 33 3107 94
NEWZEALAND 25 2277 91
WESTINDIES 31 2380 77
BANGLADESH 24 23 1
TEAMS MATCHES POINTS RATING
AUSTRALIA 33 4650 141
INDIA 38 4206 111
SOUTHAFRICA 40 4345 109
ENGLAND 44 4771 108
SRILANKA 35 3709 106
PAKISTAN 33 3107 94
NEWZEALAND 25 2277 91
WESTINDIES 31 2380 77
BANGLADESH 24 23 1
MASTER BLASTER
Sachin Tendulkar has been the most wholesome batsman of his time, and arguably the biggest cricket icon as well. His batting is based on the purest principles: perfect balance, economy of movement, precision in stroke-making, and that intangible quality given only to geniuses, anticipation. If he doesn't have a signature stroke - the upright, back-foot punch comes close - it is because he is equally proficient in each of the full range of orthodox shots (and plenty of improvised ones as well) and can pull them out at will.
Though he has adopted a noticeably conservative approach in the last quarter of his career, there are no apparent weaknesses in Tendulkar's game. He can score all around the wicket, off both front foot and back, and has made runs in all parts of the world in all conditions.
Some of his finest performances have come against Australia, the overwhelmingly dominant team of his era. His century as a 19-year old on a lightning fast pitch at the WACA is considered one of the best innings ever to have been played in Australia. A few years later he received the ultimate compliment from the ultimate batsman when Don Bradman confided to his wife that Tendulkar reminded him of himself.
Blessed with the keenest of cricket minds, and armed with a loathing for losing, Tendulkar set about doing what it took to become one of the best batsmen in the world. This was after he was turned away from a fast-bowling camp in Chennai by Dennis Lillee.
Tendulkar's greatness was established early: he was only 16 when he made his Test debut. He was hit on the mouth by Waqar Younis but continued to bat, in a blood-soaked shirt. His first Test hundred, a match-saving one at Old Trafford, came when he was 17, and he had 16 Test hundreds before he turned 25. In 2000 he became the first batsman to have scored 50 international hundreds, and he currently holds the record for most hundreds in both Tests and ODIs - remarkable, considering he didn't score his first ODI hundred till his 79th match.
Tendulkar's considerable achievements seem greater still when looked at in the light of the burden of expectations he has had to bear from his adoring but somewhat unreasonable followers, who have been prone to regard anything less than a hundred as a failure. The aura may have dimmed, if only slightly, as the years on the international circuit have taken their toll on the body, but Tendulkar remains, by a distance, the most worshipped cricketer in the world.
Though he has adopted a noticeably conservative approach in the last quarter of his career, there are no apparent weaknesses in Tendulkar's game. He can score all around the wicket, off both front foot and back, and has made runs in all parts of the world in all conditions.
Some of his finest performances have come against Australia, the overwhelmingly dominant team of his era. His century as a 19-year old on a lightning fast pitch at the WACA is considered one of the best innings ever to have been played in Australia. A few years later he received the ultimate compliment from the ultimate batsman when Don Bradman confided to his wife that Tendulkar reminded him of himself.
Blessed with the keenest of cricket minds, and armed with a loathing for losing, Tendulkar set about doing what it took to become one of the best batsmen in the world. This was after he was turned away from a fast-bowling camp in Chennai by Dennis Lillee.
Tendulkar's greatness was established early: he was only 16 when he made his Test debut. He was hit on the mouth by Waqar Younis but continued to bat, in a blood-soaked shirt. His first Test hundred, a match-saving one at Old Trafford, came when he was 17, and he had 16 Test hundreds before he turned 25. In 2000 he became the first batsman to have scored 50 international hundreds, and he currently holds the record for most hundreds in both Tests and ODIs - remarkable, considering he didn't score his first ODI hundred till his 79th match.
Tendulkar's considerable achievements seem greater still when looked at in the light of the burden of expectations he has had to bear from his adoring but somewhat unreasonable followers, who have been prone to regard anything less than a hundred as a failure. The aura may have dimmed, if only slightly, as the years on the international circuit have taken their toll on the body, but Tendulkar remains, by a distance, the most worshipped cricketer in the world.
DADA'S BEST ONEDAY PERFORMANCES
ONE DAY CRICKET
One-Day CricketRuns Opponent Venue Year Result113 Sri Lanka Colombo (RPS) 1997/98 Sri Lanka124 Pakistan Dhaka 1997/98 India105 New Zealand Sharjah 1997/98 India109 Sri Lanka Colombo (RPS) 1997/98 India107* Zimbabwe Bulawayo 1998/99 India130* Sri Lanka Nagpur 1998/99 India183 Sri Lanka Taunton 1999/00 India139 Zimbabwe Nairobi 1999/00 India153* New Zealand Gwalior 1999/00 India100 Australia Melbourne 1999/00 Australia141 Pakistan Adelaide 1999/00 India105* South Africa Jamshedpur 1999/00 India135* Bangladesh Dhaka 1999/00 India141* South Africa Nairobi (Gymk) 2000/01 India117 New Zealand Nairobi (Gymk)2000/01 New Zealand144 Zimbabwe Ahmedabad 2000/01 India127 South Africa Johannesburg 2001/02 South Africa111 Kenya Paarl 2001/02 India117* England Colombo (RPS) 2002/03 India112* Namibia Pietermaritzburg 2002/03 India107* Kenya Cape Town 2002/03 India111* Kenya Durban 2002/03 India
One-Day CricketRuns Opponent Venue Year Result113 Sri Lanka Colombo (RPS) 1997/98 Sri Lanka124 Pakistan Dhaka 1997/98 India105 New Zealand Sharjah 1997/98 India109 Sri Lanka Colombo (RPS) 1997/98 India107* Zimbabwe Bulawayo 1998/99 India130* Sri Lanka Nagpur 1998/99 India183 Sri Lanka Taunton 1999/00 India139 Zimbabwe Nairobi 1999/00 India153* New Zealand Gwalior 1999/00 India100 Australia Melbourne 1999/00 Australia141 Pakistan Adelaide 1999/00 India105* South Africa Jamshedpur 1999/00 India135* Bangladesh Dhaka 1999/00 India141* South Africa Nairobi (Gymk) 2000/01 India117 New Zealand Nairobi (Gymk)2000/01 New Zealand144 Zimbabwe Ahmedabad 2000/01 India127 South Africa Johannesburg 2001/02 South Africa111 Kenya Paarl 2001/02 India117* England Colombo (RPS) 2002/03 India112* Namibia Pietermaritzburg 2002/03 India107* Kenya Cape Town 2002/03 India111* Kenya Durban 2002/03 India
DADA'S NICKNAMES
Ganguly has been nicknamed Bengal Tiger, Prince of Calcutta, Lord Snooty by his opponents, and affectionately Dada (which means elder brother in Bengali) by his team-mates.
DADA'S BEST FIVE INNINGS
1.183 vs SL(taunton)-1999
2.144 vs aus(brisbane)-2003
3.120+ vs PAK(dhaka)-1998
4.140+ vs SA(NAIROBI,2000 champions trophy)
5.127 vs SA(in south africa 2001 series.though india lost the match).ganguly had belted 5 sixes.
2.144 vs aus(brisbane)-2003
3.120+ vs PAK(dhaka)-1998
4.140+ vs SA(NAIROBI,2000 champions trophy)
5.127 vs SA(in south africa 2001 series.though india lost the match).ganguly had belted 5 sixes.
SARAV DADA GANGULY RECORDS
Test
* Scored a century on Test debut
* Scored a century in each of his first two Tests
* Captained India in a record 49 Test matches
* Led India to a record 21 Test wins
ODIs
* Second fastest player to reach 10,000, 11,000 ODI runs
* Fastest to reach multiples of 7,000, 8,000, 9,000 ODI Runs
* Holds the record, shared with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, for the second highest score by an Indian cricketer in an ODI — 183, against Sri Lanka in 1999.
* Held the record, shared with Sachin Tendulkar, for the highest first wicket partnership for India in a ODI match, 258, against Kenya in 2001. This record was bettered by Sri Lankan opening pair of Jayasuriya and Tharanga in 2006 at Headingley.
* Was involved in the first 300 run ODI partnership with Rahul Dravid.
* Sixth on the all time list with 31 man of the match awards.
* He is also the only player to win 4 consecutive man of the match awards in ODIs.
* India's most successful ODI captain.
* First Indian to score a ODI century against Australia in Australia.
* Scored a century on Test debut
* Scored a century in each of his first two Tests
* Captained India in a record 49 Test matches
* Led India to a record 21 Test wins
ODIs
* Second fastest player to reach 10,000, 11,000 ODI runs
* Fastest to reach multiples of 7,000, 8,000, 9,000 ODI Runs
* Holds the record, shared with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, for the second highest score by an Indian cricketer in an ODI — 183, against Sri Lanka in 1999.
* Held the record, shared with Sachin Tendulkar, for the highest first wicket partnership for India in a ODI match, 258, against Kenya in 2001. This record was bettered by Sri Lankan opening pair of Jayasuriya and Tharanga in 2006 at Headingley.
* Was involved in the first 300 run ODI partnership with Rahul Dravid.
* Sixth on the all time list with 31 man of the match awards.
* He is also the only player to win 4 consecutive man of the match awards in ODIs.
* India's most successful ODI captain.
* First Indian to score a ODI century against Australia in Australia.
BENGAL TIGER("DADA")
Some felt he couldn't play the bouncer, others swore that he was God on the off-side; some laughed at his lack of athleticism, others took immense pride in his ability to galvanise a side. Sourav Ganguly's ability to polarise opinion led to one of the most fascinating dramas in Indian cricket. Yet, nobody can dispute that he was India's most successful Test captain - forging a winning unit from a bunch of talented, but directionless, individuals - and nobody can argue about him being one of the greatest one-day batsmen of all time. Despite being a batsman who combined grace with surgical precision in his strokeplay, his career had spluttered to a standstill before being resurrected by a scintillating hundred on debut at Lord's in 1996. Later that year, he was promoted to the top of the order in ODIs and, along with Sachin Tendulkar, formed one of the most destructive opening pairs in history.When he took over the captaincy after the match-fixing exposes in 2000, he quickly proved to be a tough, intuitive and uncompromising leader. Under his stewardship India started winning Test matches away, and put together a splendid streak that took them all the way to the World Cup final in 2003. Later that year, in Australia, an unexpected and incandescent hundred at Brisbane set the tone for the series - Steve Waugh's last - where India fought the world's best team to a standstill. Victory in Pakistan turned him into a cult figure but instead of being a springboard for greater things, it was the peak of a slippery slope.
The beginning of the end came in 2004 at Nagpur - when his last-minute withdrawal played a part in Australia clinching the series - and things went pear shaped when his loss of personal form coincided with India's insipid ODI performances. Breaking point was reached when his differences with Greg Chappell leaked into public domain and his career was in jeopardy when India began their remarkable revival under Rahul Dravid. His gritty 30s at Karachi, when India succumbed to a humiliating defeat in early 2006, weren't enough for him to retain his spot and some felt he would never get another chance. Others, as always, thought otherwise and they were proved right when he was included in the Test squad for the away series in South Africa in 2006-2007. He ended as the highest Indian run-scorer in that series and capped his fairytale comeback with four half-centuries on his return to ODIs. He managed two fifties in three World Cup games, in what was a forgettable campaign for India, and was rested for the folowing tour to Bangladesh
The beginning of the end came in 2004 at Nagpur - when his last-minute withdrawal played a part in Australia clinching the series - and things went pear shaped when his loss of personal form coincided with India's insipid ODI performances. Breaking point was reached when his differences with Greg Chappell leaked into public domain and his career was in jeopardy when India began their remarkable revival under Rahul Dravid. His gritty 30s at Karachi, when India succumbed to a humiliating defeat in early 2006, weren't enough for him to retain his spot and some felt he would never get another chance. Others, as always, thought otherwise and they were proved right when he was included in the Test squad for the away series in South Africa in 2006-2007. He ended as the highest Indian run-scorer in that series and capped his fairytale comeback with four half-centuries on his return to ODIs. He managed two fifties in three World Cup games, in what was a forgettable campaign for India, and was rested for the folowing tour to Bangladesh
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