My Favorite IPL Team for the Indian Premier League 2010!

Mar 10, 2010 Sports

Friends as you were aware (http://www.inewsindia.com/2009/04/18/my-favorite-ipl-team-for-this-session/) that last year I supported Delhi Daredevils, although they did very well and stand the number one team as far as the points table was concerned (IPL 209 Points Table), but they were unable to hold the trophy.

Twenty 20 cricket is really unpredictable game, and Indian Premiere League is really the best of the thrills of the fatafat cricket. Both the winners of the earlier versions of IPL, i.e. Rajasthan Royals of the IPL 2008, and Decccan Chargers of the IPL 2009 were underdogs and no one predicted them as the champions before the beginning of the tournament.

As you all know that my favorite team from the session one was Kolkata Knight Riders, in spite of the fact that they performed poorly in the IPL 1, they were the favorites for me in the year 2009 too. But I removed them from my list of favorite, just because of the insult of my favorite player Dada (Saurav Ganguly). I won’t have any objection with McCullum as the skipper of the team, but the manner in which Dada was removed and the influence of the coach on the team management was worst and so I did not watched a single match played by the Kolkata Knight Riders in the year 2009.

But this year they once again called Dada as the skipper of the team, and hence they are my favorites once again. Other than them, if you really ask me, then Mumbai Indians have fare chances in this version of the Indian Premiere League. With Sachin Tendulkar going through his best form of career, they have the advantage over other teams of the tournament. Probably he is the only player at the moment, whose batting is enjoyed by the entire India.

Every Indian feels proud to see the superb batting of the Master blaster. So in his case only no one think about the team which they are backing in the tournament. Other than him, Mumbai Indians are having the likes of Sanath Jayasuriya who himself is a destructive player, while in bowling department they have the Harbhajan Singh, the number one off-spinner bowler of the present Indian team. Although this format of cricket does not has fair scope for the bowlers, but still Bhajji plays a crucial role in the smaller version of cricket.

Other than these two teams Delhi Daredevils is the toughest side in the tournament. With the likes of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, they can defeat any team of the tournament.

Well we all know that it is really difficult to predict the winner of the Indian Premiere League, hence we can only back up the team which is our favorite. So I am excited to back the KKR in the tournament which will begin on 12th of March 2010.

Tags: Bhajji, Champions, Cricket, Dada, Deccan Chargers, Delhi Daredevils, Fatafat Cricket, Gambhir, Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, India, Indian, Indian Premier League, Indian Premier League 2010, Indian Premiere League, IPL, IPL 1, IPL 2008, IPL 2009, IPL 2009 Points Table, IPL 2010, IPL 3, IPL Points Table, KKR, Kolkata Knight Riders, Master Blaster, McCullum, Mumbai, Mumbai Indians, Points Table, Rajasthan Royals, Sachin, Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya, Saurav Ganguly, Sehwag, Skipper, Smaller Version of Cricket, Tendulkar, Tournament, Trophy, Twenty 20, Twenty 20 Cricket, Virender Sehwag, Viru

India Defeated South Africa and Claimed the World Number One Position in Test Matches!

Feb 18, 2010 India, Sports

Team India defeated South Africa by an innings and 57 runs in the second test match. The victory for India came at the dying minutes of the last day of the second test, which also brought the world number one position in test matches back to the hosts. Team India lost the world number one position a few days back when South Africa, which was number two team, defeated them badly in the first tests at Nagpur.

So, with this superb victory Team India also claimed the $1,75,000 prize money, which was suppose to be given to the world number one test team at the end of this cricketing year 2009-10. At the beginning of this series I thought that there will be some tough fight between the number one and two teams, but really became shocked to see the defeat of the Indian team by an innings and 6 runs in the first match at Nagpur.

Even I am more surprised to see that Team India defeated South Africa by an innings and 57 runs in Kolkata. I was really not expecting this result that both the matches will become a one-sided affair. While Australian team were the world number one in Tests they never allowed any other team to dominate them in this manner, while both India and South Africa, collapsed in the first and second tests, while both the team were the world number one team at the beginning of the respective matches.

Does it mean that these two teams are not going to stay at the top for a long time? Whatever is the position tally of the teams after a few months but at this moment we Indians are truly enjoying the world number one position. The second test match between the two teams was really a tough match and played till the last moment.

Frankly speaking the impact of this victory can be clearly seen in the eyes of the master blaster Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, who generally don’t reveal his emotions, but today he too confirmed that it was the material written on the big screen which really excited him. When the Team India won the match, the board at the big screen was displaying that Team India is the world number one team in Test matches. So you can easily understand the feelings of the team behind this victory. It was the brilliant knock of the Sachin Tendulkar with Virender Sehwag on day two which build the match for team India. On day three it was skipper Mahender Singh Dhoni and the Very Very Special Laxman (VVS Laxman) who two batted brilliantly and developed a brilliant lead in the first inning against the Africans.

These four batsman were the building blocks of the success of the team India in the past along with Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid, but unfortunately Dravid was injured and did not played in this series, while Gambhir would not be able to play a good inning in any of the innings of this match. Other than them the key players who converted the match in the favor of Team India were Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Amit Mishra and Ishant Sharma. Both Zaheer and Bhajji took 3-3 wickets in the first inning and brought Africa on back foot at the first day of the play. While on the last day it was Bhajji, Mishra and Ishant who dismissed them.

Harbhajan Singh took five wickets along with Mishra, who took 3 wickets. Ishant Sharma too took 2 wickets. While there was a brave fighter who did not get the support from the other end otherwise the story would have been different. It was Hashim Amla, who fought brilliantly but unable to stop India to win this match. For his brilliant knock he became the Man of the Match and Man of the Series.

Let’s see for how many days Team India can be able to stay at the world number one position, but at the moment we are at the top of the world, and this is enough.

Tags: Amit Mishra, Amla, Australia, Australian Team, Bhajji, cricket match, Dhoni, Dravid, Gambhir, Gautam Gambhir, Gauti, Harbhajan, Harbhajan Singh, Hashim Amla, India, Ishant, Ishant Sharma, Kolkata, Laxman, Mahender Singh Dhoni, Man of the Match, Man of the Series, MS Dhoni, Nagpur, Number One, Rahul, Rahul Dravid, Sachin, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, Sachin Tendulkar, Sehwag, South Africa, Team India, Tendulkar, Test, Test Cricket, Test Matches, Test Series, Victory, Virender Sehwag, Viru, VVS Laxman, World, World Number one, Zaheer, Zaheer Khan

Return of Rahul Dravid in Team India Probable is significant!

Jul 8, 2009 Sports

There was a time when he was known as “the Wall” of the Indian test cricket team, yes we are talking about the dashing middle order batsman Rahul Dravid. A day before BCCI has announced his name for the probable players list in the team India for Champions Trophy. I really liked this decision and if you believe the cricket pundits then he is likely to be included in the squad for the Champions Trophy which is going to be held in South Africa in the month of September and October 2009.

It is really good news for the cricket fans of Indian cricket team. Although Team India won the four match ODI series against West Indies in West Indies by 2-1 (last match being washed away by rain), although Indian batting line up struggled through out the series. Especially Indian batsman struggled badly against the short pitched balls, we still remember how batsman like Gambhir, Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, and Dhoni struggled against the Short-pitched balls in Twenty-20 World Cup in England, and due to their failures team exit at the Super Eight round only, that too without winning any match in the Super Eight round.

For many people the inclusion of Dravid’s name in the list of probable is really surprising as they never consider Dravid as fit for the ODI or Twenty-20 format, but they should not forget about the Rahul Dravid’s contribution for the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s performance in the second session of the Indian Premiere League in South Africa. He scored 271 runs during IPL 2009 which includes the strike rate of 115.

For me it is a decision which needs to welcome, as he is highly required along with Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag so that our team can gain back the pride which we lost during the Twenty-20 world cup.

Tags: BCCI, Champions Trophy, Champions Trophy 2009, Champions Trophy Probable, Cricket, Dravid, India, Indian Cricket Team, Indian Premiere League, IPL, IPL 2009, Rahul, Rahul Dravid, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sachin, Sachin Tendulkar, Sehwag, Team, Team India, Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Viru

Can India be able to retain the World Champions Title?

Jun 2, 2009 Sports

The big question of the moment is about the performance of the Indian cricket team in the upcoming Twenty 20 World Championship. It is a well known fact that India is the winner team of the 2007 Twenty 20 world cup, and they are looking as the most eligible contender for the 2009 title at the moment.

I am the biggest fan of the Indian cricket team, but still I have a doubt. I am feeling that there is something which this present team is missing. My doubt is getting more strength after seeing the defeat of the Indian team in the practice match against New Zealand. This practice match was played between India and New Zealand at Lord’s, London, on tomorrow 1st of June 2009.

Team India won the toss in the match and asked Kiwis to bat first, with the help of some brilliant knock by McCullum and Taylor Kiwis made 170 runs for 7 wickets in the 20 overs. Although the first wicket partnership between Gambhir and Rohit Sharma was of 42 runs that too in only 5 overs, but once Gambhir became out, wickets of Team India fell regularly and then despite the briliiant knock of 45 by Raina and unbeaten 41 by Ravindra Jadeja, Team india fell short of 9 runs.

Although it was a practice match and the power hitter like yuvraj Singh did not bat in the match, also India gave rest to the dashing opener Virendra Sehwag, still the defeat is causing concern in the mind of the followers. It is also true that Team India will not face many problem in going to the next round as they are in a safe group. Indian team has got the place in Group A along with the weak teams like Bangladesh and Ireland, so they won’t have to worry so much, but this format of cricket is very unpredictable and Bangladesh is a team which has a few times defeated us at a crucial moment.

Another matter of concern for me is the sideeffects of Indian Premiere League. Many international players like Rickey Ponting ignored IPL, but almost all Indian players from the present team were a part of around a month long tournament. Hence, almost all of them are feeling tired. Another big concern is the injury of Zaheer Khan, which is again the outcome of the IPL. Although Indian skipper MS Dhoni is saying that these issues are not going to affect the performance of the Indian team, and even Sachin Tendulkar is having the feeling that India will retain the championship.

So let’s wait and watch how Team India is going to fair in the Twenty 20 World Cup 2009.

Tags: Cricket World Cup, Dhoni, Gambhir, Gautam Gambhir, India, Indian Cricket Team, Indian Premiere League 2009, Indian Team, IPL, IPL 2, IPL 2009, Jadeja, McCullum, MS Dhoni, New Zealand, Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar, Sehwag, T 20 World Championship, T 20 World Cup, T 20 World Cup 2009, T20 World Cup, Team India, Tendulkar, Twenty 20 World Championship, Twenty 20 World Championship 2009, Twenty 20 World Cup, Twenty 20 World Cup 2009, Virender Sehwag, Viru, World Championship, World Cup, World Cup 2009, Yuvi, Yuvraj Singh

Three Senior Players Steal the First Day Show of IPL 2!

Apr 19, 2009 Sports

It was not expected for most of the people out here in India as well as some of the people out there in South Africa too. Three old guys Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble steal the attraction of the opening day in IPL second session.

Sachin Tendulkar who him self says that this format is not fit for him and that’s why he is not a part of the Indian team for Twenty20 matches, made a superb half century in the opening match of the Indian Premiere League 2009 against Chennai Super Kings. Because of the brilliant half century by Master Blaster Mumbai Indians defeated Chennai Superkings, last year Runner Up team, by 19 runs. Sachin made 59 runs in 49 balls, he hit 7 boundaries in his innings.

Another old guy Rahul Dravid, who was never considered fit for Twenty20, even he was axed from the ODI’s too by some of the selectors who think that only hitting big shots is the matter which makes sense in ODI’s and Twenty20, proved once again that cricket is not only the game of power hitting. When he joined the crease in the second match against defending champions Rajasthan Royals, his team Royal Challengers Bangalore was struggling at 17 for 3 wickets in 4.5 overs. Then he took the responsibility and brought his team to a respectable total of 133. He made 66 runs in only 48 runs and he hit 8 boundaries and 1 six. Of course Vijay Malya will be pleased to see this match winning inning.

Then it was the turn of one of the most senior player of the tournament Anil Kumble. Jumbo who has taken retirement from Tests as well as ODI’s too, took 5 wicket in just 3.1 overs. His bowling figure of 3.1 Overs 1 Maiden and 5 runs and 5 wickets were superb and it caused the worst defeat for the defending champions Rajasthan Royals. They got all out for the lowest total of the tournament, they made only 58 runs. Thus Bangalore Royal Challengers won the match by 75 runs.

The two man of the match of the opening day were Sachin Tendulkar for the match one and Rahul Dravid for the match two. Both of these genius has proved their ability in this format of the cricket too. I am now keen to see the performance of Saurav Ganguly in the first match against Deccan Chargers tonight.

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Note: Earlier the title of the article was “Three Old Players Steal the First Day Show of IPL 2!” but I was requested by one of my reader to change it to “Three Senior Players Steal the First Day Show of IPL 2!”.

Tags: Anil, Anil Kumble, Dada, Dravid, Ganguly, Indian Premiere League, IPL, IPL 2, Kumble, Rahuil Dravid, Rahul, Sachin, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav, Saurav Ganguly, Tendulkar

My Favorite IPL Team for this Session!

Apr 18, 2009 Special Feature, Sports

Last year my favorite team was Kolkata Knight Riders, though the team did not played well enough to reach to the semifinal stage but till the last match I supported the team. Although I liked the Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils too but none of them reached to the finals of the IPL session one last year.

Many people were asking me the favorite team for this session, so I thought to post my choice. As expected it was Kolkata Knight Riders till two days back, but the removal of Saurav Ganguly as the skipper of the team caused my heart break and I decided to not follow the team matches now. I strongly believe that Saurav Ganguly was the best ever player from Kolkata so far, and he should be the skipper of any team which is basically developed in the name of Kolkata. It is one sort of insult for Dada, and I would not support the team now.

This session I have also decided that I am not going to support the matches in which Harbhajan Singh and Mahender Singh Dhoni were playing. It is because that these two players were my favorite players, but a few days’ back they insulted the nation, by skipping the Padma Shri award function, which is the most prestigious award for the civilians of India. This clearly indicates that these people are now an image which is bigger than their country, which I never appreciate, although I know I am no one to put finger on these celebrities, they are such a big guys that they would not be affected from such type of opposes, but, still I think I should oppose them. I love my country India and I will never support the people who will do any thing to insult my nation, so I am here by announcing that I will not support the Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians any way in the matches from now on.

I think that Mr. Dhoni is now thinking that no one will ever replace him from the captaincy of Team India, but friend you never know when you are out from the frame. People love you because you have served the nation, but if you are going to insult the nation no one is going to love you then. Same for Mr. Bhajji too, we still remember the face of Bhajji after the slap incident (with Shreesanth during last session) and when BCCI was suppose to ban him forever.

Any ways, I do like the Mumbai Indians team because of the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, who was not only the icon but he is the greatest son of India. MS Dhoni and Harbhajan should at least take a few lesson from him, he has never missed any such type of award function despite the busy schedule. Any ways leave the issue now, so the three teams are out of my mind and they are KKR, MI, and CSK. Now coming to the fourth team which is for sure not suppose to get my support, and that is Rajasthan Royals, the defending champions.

I have mentioned the reasons against them in the last article: The Best Example of Globalization. Now out of the remaining four team Kings XI Punjab, Delhi Daredevils, Bangalore Royal Challengers, and Deccan Chargers, I don’t have any reason to support the last two depending on the performance in the last session. So for me only two options are left, one of them is Kings XI Punjab. I like the team but I am not the supporter of this team.

So this year I am going to support the Delhi Daredevils, the reason behind this is the form of the dashing openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. Other then them I too like Amit Mishra, Ashish Nehra, Manoj Tiwary, Farvej Maharoof, McGrath and Dilshan. So for this session my favorite team for IPL 2 is Delhi Daredevils.

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Tags: Amit Mishra, Ashish Nehra, Bangalore Royal Challengers, Bhajji, Chennai Super Kings, Dada, Deccan Chargers, Delhi Daredevils, Dhoni, Dilshan, Farvej Maharoof, Gambhir, Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, India, IPL, IPL 2, Kings XI Punjab, KKR, Kolkata Knight Riders, Manoj Tiwary, McGrath, MS Dhoni, Mumbai Indians, Padma Shri, Padma Shri Awards, Sachin, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Sehwag, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreesanth, Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Viru

Way to Out Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar!

Feb 3, 2009 Sports

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If you too want to know the way how you can dismiss master blaster Sachin Tendulkar in a cricket match, then let me tell you the easiest way to give him out. It is quite ordinary to make him out in any match. Talk to the umpires and tell them to give the LBW decision against him, even if the ball was going out, up or anywhere.

This is becoming the trend of the dismissal of the master blaster in recent time. Every country in which he is touring with team India is making the plan against him in the same way. They ask the umpires to give him Leg before Out for a marginal possibility too.

I know it is not true, but we Indians are truly unhappy with the growing mistakes made by umpires against the master blaster. I don’t know if it is the pressure of any sort under which they give the decision against Sachin, but it is true that mostly he was given out on a ball which is either going to the leg side of the leg stump or going up from the bells or touched the bat first.

During the ongoing series against Sri Lanka Sachin got dismissed three times in the same way, in all the three One Day Internationals. The ball was either going out side the leg stump or going up to the stumps height but the decision was against him. Even in the second ODI Yuvraj Singh too faced the similar sort of decision although it was clear even from the naked eye that the ball hit his bat first and then touched his pad.

It is really unfortunate for any player to get the out decision while he was not. It is Sachin Tendulkar who got the maximum number of wrong outs. When he tours Australia then too he got the wrong dismissals and now in Sri Lanka too. The three consecutive wrong LBW decisions is telling that some type of conspiracy is behind all these. These types of decisions can eat the career of any new player, though it is Sachin Tendulkar so three consecutive dismissals for less than ten runs will not cost him much, but if there were some new player in place of him then he was sure to be out from the playing eleven in the next match.

I don’t know the stance of ICC on these issues but they are supposed to take actions against the culprits in the game of cricket but I never heard that they take any action against the umpires. Most of the spectators visit the stadium by purchasing costly tickets just to watch the batting of the giants like Sachin, Jayasuriya etc. but if they miss the inning by these players due to some human mistake then it is one sort of cheat with them. I would like to listen the comments of our readers on this issue.

Tags: Australia, How to Out sachin, India, Master Blaster, Sachin, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, Sri Lanka, Team India, Tendulkar

7 lime lights of the second cricket test between India and Australia!

Oct 21, 2008 Sports

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As we all know that Team India won in the second cricket test match in Border-Gavaskar trophy. They defeated Australia the number 1 team in test cricket by a huge margin of 320 runs. We are here by preparing a list of seven lime lights of the test match.

1. 12K runs by Sachin: The master blaster of Indian cricket, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar made 88 runs in the first inning of India and he became the highest run getter in the history of test cricket. Also check the 10 glorifying moments of his career! He crossed the land mark made by Brian Lara of West Indies. At the end of the match he has more than 12,000 runs in his bag.


Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly

2. 7K runs by Ganguly: He was once considered as the best captain of India. A bit of politics in cricket and Greig Chappel caused him his place in the team. Finally he get the place in the team but became so frustrated that he decided to quit the cricket after this series. And in this series his bat is talking with all those people who were criticizing him earlier. He made a superb century in the first inning and due to that he made more than 7000 runs in test cricket. It was not a small feet, but still he decided not to revert back his decision of quitting cricket. I News India salutes the “Dada”, we always supported him during his bad phase too.


Maya of Dhoni and a different Bhajji

3. Maya of Dhoni: He is the guy who has changed the form of Indian cricket, he brought it from the aged person to the younger ones. Under his captaincy India won the T 20 world cup one year back and after that whichever match he captained gave India something to cheer about. He is a bit lucky too, considered by a huge section in India. We still remember the match against South Africa in this year, in which he got the captaincy due to the sickness of the regular skipper Anil Kumble and India won that match. Even today India won the match in which he was the captain. This is the Maya of Dhoni. The two attacking half centuries are superb and those gave him the Man of the Match.


The best Indian opening pair of Viru and Gauti

4. Opening pair of India: Viru and Gauti, the opening pair of India is these days considered as the best ever opening pair for India. These two have played lots of cricket together and they love to play together. In One Days too they are being considered as the best and now in test too. The 182 runs stand between these two in the second inning of this test was really brilliant, while the pitch was offering help to the bowlers. Sehwag though failed to convert 90 into 100, but Gambhir get the second test century of his life.


Superb Ishant Sharma

5. Superb Ishant Sharma: This school guy has troubled one of the best batsman of the world, Rickey Ponting. He made the hat-trick of dismissing him in test cricket. He is doing the same thing which Bhajji did in the previous tours of Australia in India. Since his debut in the national team from the January of this year he is continuously creating problem for Rickey Ponting. During this match he dismissed Ponting in both the innings and that caused problem to Aussies, while they are also facing the failure of Mathew Hayden in the series.
6. A different looking Bhajji: We still remember the slap controversy in IPL 2008. That incident has changed our main bowler Harbhajan Singh. He is looking more polite and attacking on the field after that. Yesterday he dismissed the top three batsman on Aussies and that caused them the match. He was not so much successful in the drawn first test match, while he devastated the Aussies second inning. The fall of the batsman like Hayden, Katich and Hussey caused them the match. Now he is one short to the 300 test wickets.


Amit Mishra a good beginning

7. Amazing Amit Mishra: He was not in news before this match and he performed brilliantly in the match. He took 5 wickets in the very first inning of his life and that is also against the number 1 team of world. That was superb, and awesome. Indian team management will have to face a bit more problem now in choosing the playing 11. Whom will they remove, Kumble, Mishra or Bhajji?

It was a team effort and other than these guys Zaheer Khan too did well, along with good contribution from all the players of the team, especially Rahul Dravid. So overall it was a all OK match for team India and now they are looking ahead to defeat Aussies in the series. Best of luck to team India. We would be happy to see the comments of our readers on this match. Also you can take a look at the Cricket Updates for the match reports.

Tags: Amit Mishra, Bhajji, Border Gavaskar Trophy, Captain of India, Dada, Dhoni, Dravid, Gambhir, Ganguly, Gautam, Gautam Gambhir, Gauti, Greig Chappel, Harbhajan Singh, Hayden, Hussey, India Australia, Ishant Sharma, Katich, Kumble, M S Dhoni, Ponting, Rahul Dravid, Rickey Ponting, Sachin, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Second Cricket Test, Sehwag, T 20, T-20 World Champions, Team India, Tendulkar, Test Match, Virender Sehwag, Viru, Zaheer Khan

Dhoni gets khel Ratna award!

Aug 5, 2008 Sports

India ODI skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on Monday chosen for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2007-08 given for the most outstanding performance in a year. The awards would be presented on August 25, 2008.

The current Indian captain of the ODI (one day international) and T-20 teams became the only second cricketer after master blaster Sachin Tendulkar to be honored with the Khel Ratna Award, the country’s highest honor given for an achievement in sports. .

Dhoni on Monday offered prayers at the famous Deori temple after being conferred with the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.

The President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Sharad Pawar said, “We are very happy. He has represented the country with distinction, and deserves the honor. His exemplary leadership and demeanor under pressure, especially in the ICC World Twenty20 and the tri-series in Australia, mark him out as the ideal role-model for millions of young Indians, who want to make a mark in life.”

Dhoni is the model icon among youth. He scored 148 against Pakistan in his fifth ODI in 2005 - then the highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper. Later in the year, he broke his own record as well as set the current world record for the highest score in the second innings in ODI matches as he scored 183 not out against Sri Lanka.

Tags: Award, BCCI, Dhoni, ICC, Indian Captain, Mahender Singh Dhoni, MS Dhoni, ODI, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Sachin, Sachin Tendulkar, T20, Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar ranks 2nd in ICC ranking, Dhoni at 4th!

Jul 1, 2008 Sports

Sachin Tendulkar moves to second rank in the latest ICC ODI batsmen ranking list by stepping one move ahead while M S Dhoni is no on 4th place. Yuvraj Singh at rank 14 is another Indian batsman in top 20 ranks while Gautam Gambhir snatches 20th spot.

Tendulkar, who was suffering from groin injury for a long time, has scored 758 points after 792 points by South African captain Graeme Smith. 135 runs made by Dhoni in Asia cup scored 750 points and shares his place with Australians Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey at number four.

In the ICC championship table, India remains at fourth, one point adrift of New Zealand (115). However, if India wins its next super four matches in the ongoing Asia Cup India can reach at position three.

Australia with 128 points at the top is giving neck to neck competition to South Africa with 127 points. Sri Lanka is at sixth spot followed by England at seven and West Indies at eighth position.

Tags: Cricket, Dhoni, Gambhir, Gautam Gambhir, Hussey, ICC, Mahender Singh Dhoni, MS Dhoni, Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, Tendulkar