India National Cricket Team

India is a cricket loving nation and there’s no doubt about this fact. We may have Hockey as our national sport but Its Cricket which is the most loved and cherished sports across every corner of the country. Having said that, we can also Ascertain that the Successful Journey of our very own Indian National Cricket team, since it came into Existence, contributed big time in making this sports immensely popular amongst Indian Fans.

Year of Establishment 1926 Association Board of Control for Cricket in India Current Coach Ravi Shastri Current Captain Virat Kohli

India National Cricket Team Records and Stats

Records ODI TEST T20 ICC Rankings 2 1 3 Highest Total 418 (vs West Indies, 2011) 759/7(vs England, 2016) 260/5 (vs Sri Lanka, 2017) Lowest Total 54 (vs Sri Lanka, 2000) 42 (vs England, 1974) 74 (vs Australia, 2008) Largest Victory 257 runs (vs Bermuda, 2007) Innings & 272 runs (vs West Indies, 2018) 143 runs (vs Ireland, 2018) Smallest Victory 1 run (vs New Zealand, 1990) 13 runs (vs Australia, 2004) 1 run (vs South Africa, 2012)

Cricket and its Inception in India

India National Cricket Team: A number of Historical facts quote that Cricket was First Brought on Indian Soil by some European Merchants in the early 18th century and First Indian Cricket Club Came into Existence at that time only in the city of Kolkata. India, as a country was mostly dominated by the British rule for the next century and It, was by the year 1932 only that India became the Sixth country to get the Test match Status and played their First match against the English Cricket team at the “Mecca of Cricket”, Lords.

The Journey for Indian National Cricket Team was not a “Joy Ride” at all and for the next few decades, Indian team get to face defeats in almost every match they played and it was by the year 1952, when Team India tasted their First ever victory in the international Cricketing arena by defeating England cricket team at the Madras cricket club in 1952.

The Rise of India National Cricket Team on World’s Horizon

India National Cricket Team was largely considered as a weak team in the first few decades of its Introduction to the Cricketing world. While it had to wait until 1952 for its First win in the International Cricket, Indian Cricket gets to see its rise in the Global Cricketing arena after that famous World cup victory in 1983 in England when India Defeated the Mighty West Indies in the World cup final under the captaincy of famous All-rounder Kapil Dev never looked back ever since then and went on to defeat almost every cricket team in the world while having some of the biggest Global Cricketing stars like Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Gundappa Vishwanath, and many others.

The “Saaachin” Era!

If we have to name one cricketer out of whole Indian cricket roster till now who has made everyone going gaga about his outstanding performances in World Cricket, It has to be India’s Cricketing God, Sachin Tendulkar. There’s hardly anyone in this country who isn’t familiar to those “Saaachin…Saachin” chants in the stadium and even Sachin hasn’t disappointed his fans during the course of his Cricketing career over a period of more than 20 years.

Making his Debut against Pakistan in 1989 in a tender age of 16 years and 205 days, this Cricketing legend made every Cricket lover across this planet while scoring most runs in both ODIs and Test matches along with a Unique record of 100 centuries. Even the Cricket Legend Sir Don Bradman met him at his place and told him that his batting makes him remember his own days in World Cricket.

MS Dhoni and his Quest to take India to No.1 Spot

While India National Cricket team was doing a tremendous job while having Sachin and other great Cricketers like Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble on board, It was still not being able to secure any major victory against the Global Cricketing powers like Australia and England. The Country was still craving for the memorable victory at Lords in 1983 but while they almost came near to another World cup glory, India Lost to Australia in World cup 2003 final under the Captaincy of Saurav Ganguly.

It was then when the member of the BCCI’s Selection committee decided to bring some young blood on board to handle Team India’s Captaincy and Mahendra Singh Dhoni was awarded the same Responsibility. The Ploy paid off and it was Dhoni along with a young bunch of Indian Cricketers who won the inaugural T20 Cricket World cup in 2007 by defeating the Arch rivals Pakistan in a Nail biting finish and made all the Indian Cricketing fans jump in glory.

It wasn’t it as India also secured a No.1 spot in the ICC test rankings in the year 2011 along with another ODI World cup glory after 28 years under Dhoni’s Captaincy only.

Famous Cricketing Legends of India National Cricket Team:

Sunil Gavaskar

Famous with the name “Little Master” Sunil Gavaskar has been regarded as One of the best Test Cricketers in the World’s history along with one of the greatest test openers of all time. He was the first test cricketer to score 10000 runs in the Cricket history and his record of most centuries (34) was later broken by another Indian Legend Sachin Tendulkar.

Gundappa Viswanath

Gundappa Viswanath was one of the few players who has taken it all by themselves during the struggling years of Indian Cricket team in the late 70s. He was one of the outstanding performers who went on to score more than 6000 runs in 91 matches for the Indian cricket team.

Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly was amongst India’s best captains till date and it has been widely said that the team and players which brought the World cup glory home to India were nurtured under his captaincy only. Being famous as an aggressive captain, Ganguly was also the second most run-getter for India in ODIs after Sachin Tendulkar.

Virat Kohli

If there’s one player which can be termed as a modern-day cricketing legend, It’s Virat Kohli who has made almost every cricket lover his fan with some memorable Cricketing performances. His big list of records includes the fastest ODI century by an Indian, fastest batsman to score 5000 runs in ODIs along with the fastest man to score 10 ODI centuries. He is currently holding the top spots in both ODI and test matches and one of the only players to be expected to break Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most runs and centuries.

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