My thoughtd on cricket !!

 Rahul Dravid

It's highly unlikely that any batsman, whether Indian or from any other cricket-playing nation, has never been dismissed for a duck (scoring zero runs) throughout their entire career.

In the sport of cricket, getting out for a duck is a common occurrence, and even the best batsmen experience it at some point.

But Rahul Dravid holds a unique record of never getting out for a Golden duck in the 286 Test innings that he has played during his career.

He has faced 31,258 balls, which is the largest number of balls faced by any player in test cricket. 

Courtesy : Facebook "Kris Kesavan"

Interesting analysis of Ondian TEST Cricket

 

An interesting analysis

Though most of us know about this trend but seeing it in numbers makes for an interesting reading.

Indian Test Cricket - some facts and figures.

After India's excellent come-back win in Ranchi yesterday, the current test series was won. India have taken a 3-1 lead in the series with just 1 test to play. It's an impressive achievement, considering the fact that some of India's world class test players were missing.

Though the series is won, the fifth test in Dharamsala is important, as I see it. If India can win this game, we will achieve something that I had never thought possible I'd witness in my lifetime.

After the Ranchi test, we have played a total of 578 tests so far, of which we have won 177 and lost 178. A victory in Dharamsala will reduce this gap to zero - which, as I mentioned, will give me great personal satisfaction.

When I first started following Indian test cricket in earnest, during the 1966-67 home series against West Indies, the figures at the end of that series were 10 wins and 37 defeats in 97 tests (minus 27).

In 1971 we achieved 2 great overseas series wins under Ajit Wadekar, in West Indies and in England. In spite of that, at Wadekar's retirement (after the 1974 series in England) the figures were 19 wins and 53 losses in 132 tests (minus 34).

We won the World Cup in 1983, which undoubtedly was a watershed moment in Indian cricket history. However, at the end of 1983, the figures read 35 wins and 80 losses in 219 tests (minus 45). The gap seemed to me to be ever increasing.

We won a lot of tests at home in the 90s, when Wadekar stepped in as coach, with Azharuddin as captain. Still, at the end of Azhar's first spell as captain, after July 1996, the figures were 54 wins and 98 losses in 298 tests (minus 44).

Then Tendulkar, Azhar again and Tendulkar again had spells as captain, after which, in March 2000, the figures were worse: 61 wins and 112 defeats in 333 matches (minus 51).

Then came the Ganguly era. It ended in September 2005, when the figures were 84 wins and 127 losses in 387 tests (minus 43). The gap was finally narrowing. However, it was still quite large for me to even imagine that I will be able to see this gap reduced to a single figure!

The Dravid and Kumble era that followed the Ganguly spell ended in October 2008, when the figures were 96 wins and 136 defeats in 424 tests (minus 40). The gap had decreased, albeit marginally.

Then came the Dhoni era, which ended suddenly in December 2014. The figures at that stage was 122 wins and 156 defeats in 486 tests (minus 34). The gap was decreasing, though too slowly for my comfort.

The Kohli era that followed was the one when this gap got reduced drastically. When Kohli removed himself as captain after the series in South Africa in January 2022, the figures were already giving me real hope - 166 wins and 173 defeats in 560 tests (minus 7).

And now the Rohit era has reduced this gap to minus 1. Hopefully we will be able to win the last test of the current series and wipe the deficit once and for all.

All reactions:

11

Courtesy: Narasimhan Parasiram in facebook

Sunil Gavaskar

 

Sunny Gavaskar is the greatest Test batsman of India

Match : 125

Run : 10122

Average : 51.1

Hundred : 34

Avg 4th Innings : 58.25

Against West Indies : 70.2 (in WI), 65.42 (in India)

He scored all these runs without Helmet and without DRS and yeah even without NEUTRAL UMPIRES in an era when there was no restriction on how many bouncers one could bowl.

Sunil Gavaskar

Courtesy Face book

 

Cricket With Gunjan Sir 

Cricket in India

The story goes like this. It was the last week of December, 1960, and India were playing Pakistan at the Brabourne Stadium. On the second morning of the match, while some forty thousand people crowded into Brabourne, a smaller but not less intense crowd gathered in an Irani restaurant outside. This eatery had been chosen by Dr Lohia for a press conference. 

To a group of assembled journalists, the good doctor thundered on about how the game of cricket symbolized our continuing colonisalism, and how the last Englishman to rule India was complicit in this. Throw out Nehru, he said, and we can all happily start playing kabaddi. 

The scribes departed, to file their stories. My informant is the only person still living who saw what happened next. Apparently, after the journalists had all gone, Dr Lohia walked across to the nearest paanwallah, asked for a jodi of his favourite ek sau bis kanauji, and then continued: ‘Kya Hanif out ho gaya kya?’ The answer came back, 'No, Hanif Mohammed is still batting."

from the face book of Roopen Roy

Oohh ! Chennai super king fans............

 KParthasarathi said...

Well said
He needs lot of luck and support to win the top place for CSK in this IPL

May 1, 2012 9:51 AM

Cannot be said better than this

 

This is Tendulkar

India vs

Australia[2004]match..

Brad Hogg

took Sachin's wicket.

At the end of the match Hogg gave that

Ball to Sachin for his autograph.

Sachin put his sign with one beautiful sentence, 

"IT

WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN"

Till today Hogg could not take his wicket for the second

time 

After this incident Hogg and Tendulkar came 

face to face 21 times..but he could never get d


 MasterBlaster out 

"THIS IS CONFIDENCE" 

"THIS IS TENDULKAR"


Koolkrazy swaroop in face book

A Good appreciation of Rahul Dravid

From the face book of Vaidyanathan Sriraman

 Shivakumar Gopalakrishnan said...

Very True!!!
Rahul "The Wall" Dravid has been an unsung hero till this england series.

A True Team Person, I have a bone to pick with SRT; He should have opened the innings after Rahul Dravid had carried the bat with India following on. He has opened the innings in ODI's and India's most capable batsman, only NEXT to Dravid.

It was very unfair to send Rahul Dravid to Open the Innings; India could have saved the test had someone else opened and given Rahul Dravid some rest!!!

October 2, 2011 6:42 PM

Hats off to you Sachin !

This photo is the one when Sachin hit his 1st century

Sachin Tendulkar saved the Old Trafford Test for India in 1990 with an unbeaten 119 in the final innings. At 17 years and 112 days, he was only a month older than Mushtaq Mohammad was when he had become Test cricket's youngest centurion. Wisden noted: "He looked the embodiment of India's famous opener, Gavaskar, and indeed was wearing a pair of his pads."

Below is the photo when he completed his 50th century. If you want to see the photos of his each century, with comments please click this LINK

Hemalatha said...

Dear Sir, Thanks for your immediate post on Sachin's landmark and providing the link covering his journey to today's achievement. Regards

December 19, 2010 10:53 PM

A legend (for a change not from Carnatic music)

This was a write up by my nephew Shrijit in face book, which gave me full satisfaction after reading it. I thought it may give the same feeling to many of you after reading it. Before that, are you able to make out the lady who is in this photo? Please do not read the write up below before guessing correctly.

 


"When Sachin Tendulkar traveled to Pakistan to face one of the finest bowling attacks ever assembled in cricket, Michael Schumacher was yet to race a F1 car, Lance Armstrong had never been to the Tour de France, Diego Maradona was still the captain of a world champion Argentina team, Pete Sampras had never won a Grand Slam. When Tendulkar embarked on a glorious career taming Imran and company, Roger Federer was a name unheard of; Lionel Messi was in his nappies, Usain Bolt was an unknown kid in the Jamaican backwaters. The Berlin Wall was still intact, USSR was one big, big country, Dr Manmohan Singh was yet to "open" the Nehruvian economy. It seems while Time was having his toll on every individual on the face of this planet, he excused one man. Time stands frozen in front of Sachin Tendulkar. We have had champions, we have had legends, but we have never had another Sachin Tendulkar and we never will."

Hats off to you Sachin

Click the comment sent by Mr. Bhaskaran from a mail he has received. It is interesting.

India's victory against Australia in Cricket

There may be many interviews in Tvs and in many media, about the most important lessons learnt in this series, most memorable moments etc etc.

But most appealing to me was the human touch by Captain Dhoni by three of his acts.

1. Handing over the stump missed by Ganguly in Mohali test.

2. Requesting Ganguly to captain few overs in Nagpur test

3. Calling Kumble to receive the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

What a matured mind in this young age and how many will do like that !

Sachin's world record

Hi guys,

"If you want to commit any sin, do it right now, because God is also watching Sachin batting."

If some body feels that Lara has done this in lesser tests please read this:

"While it is true that Lara scored his runs in 20 fewer tests, his volatile character and his inability to lift West Indies cricket out of the doldrums will always make him second best in any comparison with Tendulkar" - Boris Majumdar, Cricket historian.

And do not forget, Lara never faced the most dangerous west indies bowlers, whereas Sachin faced them in 16 tests.

And read this also

"We put up with corruption, don't mind poor toilets, manfully live through terrorism, but cannot allow Tendulkar, in the end just a man, to fail occasionally - Harsha Bhogle

Historic Victory and aftermath

20th January 2008

Before, I could exhaust my jubilation over the victory, by Indian Team against Australia, the announcement of team for ODI killed all the enthusiasm.

It has been proved Australia cannot win all the matches in a row, without sledging, without putting undue pressures on opponents, without the help of umpires and with fair game. Our batsmen did very well, followed by excellent bowling. I thought, after seeing Australia's collapse, we will be bundled out in the second innings within no time. It did happen. Jaffer, Dravid, Sachin, Sourav, failed. Thanks to Pathan , and Lakshman, and Dhoni and R.P. Singh giving a good stand to Lakshman, everything went on well, in spite of two doubtful lbw decisions against India. Anyhow, now it is history, but what happened today, is the mockery of professionalism.

Why should a team has to be selected before a match to be played, particularly, when you are going to drop some of the in form batsmen? May be, there is no time to select a team after 29th and get them flown to Australia. They could have called the prospective players well in advance and keep them in Australia and make them to watch the match, being played to different conditions, get acquainted with atmosphere and so on. Perhaps, BCCI cannot afford to spend few more dollars, ( even if it is few thousands) because it is very poor. You drop Lakshman, because, you have branded him as a test player, in spite of his excellent performance, every time, in Australia.

You have dropped Dravid, in spite of his excellent performance in just the previous innings, because, he did not bother to consult Mr. Dilip Vengsarkar before submitting his resignation from the captaincy.

But what mistake Ganguly has done? Was he not consistent in 2007? Did he not score runs in all the matches he played after his comeback? Was he not very useful in the few overs he was asked to bowl? Is his average in the matches he has played so far, after his comeback, is poorer than Suresh Raina? Is he less experianced in Australian pitches than Suresh Raina? I am not against Suresh Raina. But, he is coming back into the team at whose cost? Players like Shewag and Suresh Raina who have not played one day matches for some time are in, and a player who is playing all the matches, since he made a comeback, not because of his seniority but because of his performance, is out against a number one team.

What a fools paradise, our selectors are ruling. "The selectors are bunch of Jokers " is not an one time statement, but, it should be applicable for all time. This is the service the Dilip Vengsarkar and co. doing to the nation.

Why should not the Number one of the selectors come to the press and say, for so and so reasons, in spite of their good form, in spite of their experiences, they are dropped? Can he say this and face the press or he has no reasons to express in public?

It is time every cricket lover should write and speak wherever possible, for the injustice done to two players, who, together, scored more than twenty thousand runs. We should also put a full stop for insulting players, who have done their best service in their field for the nation. Does the team of selectors have no responsibility to explain to the Indian public the reasons for their actions? Why there is no accountability in an organisation, which is not a Government body?( In India only Governmemnt bodies are not accountable)

Supposing,(?) if Rahul Dravid and Ganguly score good runs in the next test, where will Dilip Vengsarkar hide his face? Or, how do you expect the players who have been dropped unceremoniously, to give their 100% in the next crucial match, to level the series? Inspite of form, they cannot be selected, because, they are seniors, and youngsters had to be given chance, then how Sachin is retained?

It is high time, the cricket lovers in this country, must bring an end to these dirty Jokers, atleast forcing them to give some explanation for their actions. Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly are not,day to day coolies of BCCI, that they can be kicked out of their duties without giving any reason.

The players, who were praised for their oneness in Harbhajan Singh's case, have got one more chance to fight the injustice done to their fellow players, and they should demand at least an explanation from the selection board, because, it can happen to them tomorrow.