Thanks For 24 years of such an entertainment - Sachin Entertainment.

Sachin Tendulkar walks away with millions longing for more.

Sachin is playing his 200th international test match and he is the only one to do so. He creates this unbreakable record of playing 200 test matches. All his fans are happy for his yet another record. But the fact that this is his last match makes them all sad. We probably watched his last international innings in whites as the West Indies team does not look good enough to offer Indian cricket team another chance to bat. Sachin scored 74 runs before giving a catch in the slips. Dev Narine was the lucky bowler who got Sachin Tendulkar's wicket in his final test match.
  Sachin, as usual for last 24 years, did not disappoint any of his fans and looked in great touch during his stay at the crease. The match was also the rare and only occasion when Sachin's mother watched him play while sitting in the VIP-box. At this moment every Indian has this feeling of departure. We all feel as if we are losing something really big and something very close to our hearts. Yes we know its him, but may be its time to respect his decision and stand by the one who stood for us each time we wanted him to.

BCCI did it again. They chose money over feelings and VVIPs over common man.

The cricket board in India is famous for its pro-business strategies. This was the reason why such an important test match ( Sachin's 200th) was snatched away from South African cricket board and arranged within India. Yes the top management were successful in making this event commercially a hit but Sachin Tendulkar's fans will never forget how almost all the tickets went to the rich and VVIPs and even the broadcast rights were limited to a particular section. The board never seemed concerned about the people who lost opportunity of watching Sachin one last time. In present era where every single One day international is being shown on National television the fact that no one tried to show this match on DD1 was heart breaking. The poor in this country would have never complained about zig-zag picture quality but may be the BCCI wanted to protect us from any such experience.

 Well one can always complain about one or the other thing and therefore I am holding my thoughts back for some time. Its time to celebrate the huge event. We all congratulate Sachin Tendulkar for the successful carrier that he has just completed with yet another success and also wish him best of luck for the upcoming challenges. I want to modify the lines written on the score board that were shown while Sachin was present on the ground like this-

Thanks for 24 years of such an entertainment - Sachin Entertainment. 

For all the Sachin fans who are a bit nostalgic about all the great memories related to the Master Blaster, here is a light moment from the pages of history in the form of following funny picture-

I am not sure about the place or country that these guys were in during this beach party. If any one knows something about the occasion, he or she can always drop a comment below and share it with everyone here.

Tomorrow I will post another interesting pictures related to 2003 world cup final that features Sachin in a different mood.

Yuvraj came back into Indian cricket team. Lets see Why?.

Yuvraj Singh has very successful One-day and T20 carrier.

Yuvraj hitting a six during 2007 T20 world cup.

The indian cricket team for the upcoming home series against Australia has been announced and Yuvraj Singh was given another chance to serve the team again. The selectors have tried to mix old and young talent in the group of 15 that were selected for the initial half of the series. The big names that had been trying their level best to get back into the side could not make it through to the top fifteen and only Yuvraj got the nod from the selectors. I have already written about Yuvraj Singh's performance in the domestic and the list A matches and his this performance along with tough fitness routine were main reasons for his selection to the national side. Today I wanted to share his cricket carrier figures till date that make him such an important member of our One-day and T20 cricket teams.

 I am not very good with numbers and therefore I searched for Yuvraj Singh cricinfo page and got the following result.

ODIs carrier of Yuvraj Singh-

Yuvraj singh played his last one-day international against England at the Dharmshala cricket ground and has been working hard for the form and fitness since then. 

Yuvraj Singh made his debut in one-day cricket on October 3rd, 2000 against Kenya at Nairobi. Since then he has played a total of 282 ODIs till date and in 260 innings he has scored a total of 8211 runs with an impressive average of 36.98.  He has faced 9368 number of balls for all these runs and thus his strike rate comes out to be 87.64. In these ODIs he managed to score 13 centuries and 50 half centuries with the help of 850 fours and 145 sixes. The highest score that he has scored so far is 139 runs and he remained not-out on 38 occasions. Yuvraj singh has also caught 91 catches in his ODI carrier. 

Yuvraj Singh is also well known for his lazy left arm spin bowling. He has bowled 4904 balls in total of 154 ODIs and picked up 109 wickets with 5 for 31 as his best performance. His economy of 5.06 runs per over might be challenge for some others who call themselves pure bowlers.

T20 Carrier of Yuvraj Singh-

Yuvraj played his last T20 against Pakistan at Ahmedabad on December 28th, 2012 and therefore its been long since one saw the sixer-king striking the cricket ball in T20s in international cricket. 

The destructive southpaw made his debut in T20 international cricket against Scotland at Durban on September 13th, 2007 and has played a total of 33 international T20 matches. He has scored 791 runs in 31 innings that he played and has an useful average of 30.42 runs. He is known for his destructive bating style in T20s and his strike rate of 148.68 justifies that reputation very well. He is surprisingly a batsman who does not have a century in T20 cricket and his highest is 72 runs. He has a total of 6 fifties in T20 cricket. He has hit 45 boundaries and 54 sixes and caught 8 catches in this format. 

Out of all 33 T20 matches he has bowled in 21 innings and picked up 23 wickets. His best bowling figures in T20s are 3 wickets for 17 runs. Though his average of 16.21 in very good but the economy of 7.08 is a little higher than whatever expected of him.

All the above figures make him a dangerous and enviable combination and he would walk into any Indian cricket team provided he stays fit and gets back into some kind of form. We know him for his devotion towards the game and it would be interesting to see how he pays back for the trust that BCCI selectors has shown in his capabilities.

The destructive Southpaw - Yuvraj Singh to stage yet another come back.

 Yuvraj Singh works hard in list A matches against West Indies to stage another come back into Indian cricket team.

Yuvraj Singh and cricket 2013

The left handed stylish batsman and a very useful bowling option, Yuvraj Singh is working hard on his fitness and form to get back into the team India. After recovering from the cancer he played a few matches but lack of match fitness was quite evident in his each outing. Hence selectors were forced to drop him from both teams of test and one-day cricket. And therefore due to retirement of the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and bad form of some senior batsmen Indian cricket team was forced to try out fresh legs in the form of Pujara and Dhawan.

We know Yuvraj, and he shows why he has been such a successful member of the Indian cricket team for over a decade. He took an air ticket to some distant high peaks of France along with Zaheer Khan and off they go for their mission impossible. There both the cricketers worked hard under some expert's vigil. They did all kinds of high altitude training and the dieting stuff for a few weeks.

The result? Well the two cricketers look much more fit than what they used to look during the World Cup that we had won in 2011. Zaheer especially looks a lot fitter and younger and he had already left for South Africa for specific training with his former coach Gary Kirsten.

Meanwhile Yuvraj has fortunately been selected to play against West Indies A team and he did not miss out on his golden opportunity. Though India A lost the series to the West Indians but Yuvraj made his case heard with some decent scores written against his name. He scored at about an average of 74 and had one fifty and a century to his credit.

HE played a crucial role in only T 20 match that was played between both the A
sides. A blistering fifty (52) of just 35 balls helped India to post a total well beyond the opposition's reach. He did reasonably well with his left arm lazy spin taking 2 wickets while giving away 24 runs. All in all the champion of 2011 World Cup is trying his level best to stage another come back and shine at the levels which once belonged to him. Let us wish him all the luck and hope that he will very soon hit those massive sixes in international cricket. After all we are tired of searching for Yuvraj Singh images and videos online and want to the destructive southpaw in action.

Indian U-19 Cricket Team Defeated Oz to Win U-19 World Cup 2012

A Better Future In The Making

Indian U-19 cricket team defeated Australian cricket team in U-19 world cup final and became world champion. This was third time that Indian juniors have won this title and Indian cricket team has become second team after Australia to win the world cup in both categories at same time.

The final match proved to be real test of Indian team's bating order as it had already been below its level throughout the world cup.The Indian captain and undoubtedly best batsman in the junior level team, Unmukt played on of his best innings to get the team out of a precarious situation. Indian cricket team was once at 97 runs for loss of four wicket when the captain and the wicket keeping batsman Sumit formed a match winning partnership and won the match by six wickets. 

This victory is also important in the sense that Indian U-19 team has won the cup in away from home conditions and defeated Australians at their home.Because of the way these youngsters have performed in the tournament, some cricket experts have already started discussions about their possible inclusion in the senior team. Especially the captain Unmukt has shown a lot of promise and could soon be following footsteps of cricketers like M. Kaif, Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli.The left handed young spinner has also won himself a few followers because of his flight and trajectory and he is already being referred to as next Bishan Singh Bedi by a few experts.

V.V.S. Laxman Retires From International Cricket-A Sudden Exit.

V.V.S. Laxman retired? Or Retired hurt?-His sudden exit surprised us all

Indian Cricket team's stylish middle order batsman V.V.S. Laxman has announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket. This came as a surprise for all his fans and team mates as he had already been practicing hard for upcoming at home test series against Black-caps. 

VVS Laxman announces retirement

Laxman said that he did this so as to facilitate youngsters fair chance of proving themselves and thus serving the nation.The sober and subtle batsman for once almost broke into tears and was evidently emotional about the decision.Laxman has not been playing up-to his levels during last two series in England and Down-Under.

The veteran of Indian cricket team, who used to bat at number 5 in test matches batting order has thus put an end to a long carior of over 16 year test cricket in which he had scored well over eight thousand(8,781) runs in 134 matches.Laxman scored 17 test hundreds and 56 half centuries in his illustrious successful carrier.

Laxman celebrates his test century

Since making his debut in international cricket back in 1996 against S. Africa he has played some of the most memorable innings of all times. His most famous one was that of 281 runs against the mighty Aussies at Kolkata that changed complexion of the whole Indian cricket team. Laxman for some mysterious causes used to be at his best against them and in all his hundreds he scored 6 while playing Australia with two double hundreds.

So now two of our greatest ever middle order batsman retiring in short time span Indian cricket might go into some kind of transition phase. Whether youngster like S. Badrinath can fill up his shoes ably will be proven in future; but one thing is sure that Indian cricket might not get a second VERY VERY SPECIAL Laxman. 

• Do you think that V.V.S. Laxman has been forced to exit midway without his will to do so?

Welcome Back Yuvraj-After Almost 9 Months He Is back.

Yuvraj Singh in action after defeating cancer

Yuvraj in all-black

Yuvraj In Test Match

Yuvraj Singh Indian Cricket team's left handed stylish batsman is all set to stage a come-back in upcoming T20 world cup to be held in Shrilanka next month.The National Selectors decided to include him in the 15 member squad for the upcoming T 20s in recently held meeting of the selection committee. Whether he is fit or not? this is the concern that most of his fans and Indian cricket team supporters are still wondering about as Yuvraj Singh has not played any professional matches yet.Earlier Yuvraj has communicated about his fitness to the board and said that he is fit. The Indian cricket team needs him badly because in his absence, in last year or so team has not been successful in fulfilling the expectations. With Yuvi back in the scheme of things the team might once again find that right balance and the attitude that was found missing for over a year. Also his return will give the team a chance to improve its records in T20 world cup.

Yuvi Celebration Style

1. Should Yuvraj start playing for the team even if he is not hundred percent match fit?
2. Has all that he has been through, changed him and his attitude towards the game?
3. How do you feel about his return into the team, is it too soon for him to readjust.

Indian Cricket Team to Host Pakistan for 3 ODIs and 2 T20s.

Indian Cricket Team to Host Pakistan for 3 ODIs and 2 T20s.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India today announced in a major break through decision that it (BCCI) will host Pakistan Cricket team in upcoming December for a series of Three One day Internationals(ODIs) and couple of T 20 Matches Bilateral series. The decision was announced after the diplomatic discussions between both countries