Chanderpaul Behind Lara in Test Matches

Shivnarine Chanderpaul became the second highest run scorer in test matches for West Indies. Chanderpaul moved ahead of Sir Viv Richards to take the second spot in the list of most runs in test matches for West Indies. Chanderpaul has accumulated 8547 runs in 121 test matches. Viv Richards also took the same number of matches to score 8540 runs, but he needed only 182 innings compared to Chanderpaul's 206.

The following is the list of top five West Indies batsmen with most runs in test match cricket:

1. Brian Lara - 11912 runs
2. Shivnarine Chanderpaul - 8547 runs
3. Sir Viv Richards - 8540 runs
4. Sir Garry Sobers - 8032 runs
5. Gordon Greenidge - 7558 runs

Chanderpaul has been the mainstay and Mr. Dependable for West Indies for almost a decade now. He has scored 21 centuries and 52 half-centuries. Chanderpaul also holds the record for most number of half-centuries by West Indies batsman in test match cricket.

Read More...

Dravid Records Most Catches in Test Matches

India vs New Zealand, India in New Zealand, 2009 - 3rd Test
Date: 03-07 April 2009

Rahul Dravid broke the record for most number of catches in test matches. The career record of 181 catches was held by Australian Mark Waugh. In the second innings of the on-going third cricket test match between India and New Zealand, Rahul Dravid held on to a chance given by New Zealand opener McIntosh off the bowling of Zaheer Khan. With the catch of McIntosh, Rahul Dravid has completed 182 catches in test match cricket. When Jesse Ryder was dismissed later on, Rahul Dravid has added another catch to his tally.

The following is the list of the top five cricketers with most catches in test match cricket:

1. Rahul Dravid (India) - 183 catches
2. Mark Waugh (Australia) - 181 catches
3. Stephen Fleming (New Zealand) - 171 catches
4. Brian Lara (West Indies) - 164 catches
5. Mark Taylor (Australia) - 157 catches

Interestingly, all the cricketers in the above list have already retired from international cricket except Rahul Dravid.

Read More...

Dhoni's Record for Most Catches in Test Matches

Image via Wikipedia

India vs New Zealand, India in New Zealand, 2009 - 3rd Test
Date: 03-07 April 2009

• Dhoni took six catches during the first innings of the third test against New Zealand, which sets the record for most catches by an Indian player in an innings.



• Dhoni also equalled Syed Kirmani's record for most dismissals in an innings by an Indian wicket-keeper. Syed Kirmani has effected 6 dismissals (5 catches and 1 stumping) against New Zealand in 1976. Dhoni now has equalled that record for most dismissals with 6 dismissals (all 6 catches) against New Zealand.



• Dhoni has also moved up to third position in the all-time dismissals list by Indian wicket-keepers. With the six dismissals in the first innings of the current match, Dhoni has now been involved in 109 dismissals. With that, he has surpassed Nayan Mongia's record of 107 dismissals. Dhoni now trails the legendary Syed Kirmani and Kiran More in the all time dismissals by Indian wicket-keepers. The following is the list of top five Indian wicket-keepers, in terms of all-time dismissals in test matches:
  
  Syed Kirmani - 198 dismissals
  Kiran More - 130 dismissals
  Mahendra Singh Dhoni - 109 dismissals
  Nayan Mongia - 107 dismissals
  Farokh Engineer - 82 dismissals



• Dhoni also holds the record for most number of dismissals in an ODI innnings (six dismissals) by Indian wicket-keepers. This also is a world record, currently shared by players like Adam Gilchrist, Mark Boucher, Ridley Jacobs and Alec Stewart.

Read More...

Jayasuriya, Oldest Player to score an ODI hundred

Jayasuriya scored yet another century against the Indian bowling attack. He loves the Indian bowlers and regularly feasts on them. Today is no different. He did not explode, as the slow nature of pitch did not allow that kind of free hitting. But, still, he made 107 runs off 114 deliveries at a healthy strike rate of 93.85. His knock included 10 fours and a six.

Jayasuriya also became the oldest cricket player to score an ODI hundred. He surpassed Geoffrey Boycott's record (!) that stood for close to 30 years. Boycott, playing for England, scored a century against Australia on 11 December 1979 in Sydney, during the Benson and Hedges World Series Cup. Boycott was aged 39 years and 51 days when he scored that century. Jayasuriya, at 39 years and 212 days, has become the oldest player to score an ODI hundred. This is Jayasuriya's 28th ODI hundred and his 7th ODI hundred against the Indians. His love for the Indian bowling continues.

Sri Lanka closed the innings at a healthy 246/7, thanks mainly to the hundred from Jayasuriya. Sangakkara scored 44 and Maharoof blasted through a quickfire 35 from just 27 deliveries. Ishant Sharma picked 3 wickets for 52 runs. Zaheer Khan picked 1 for 40 while Ojha had figures of 1 for 52.

Read More...

Jayasuriya crosses 13000 runs in ODI cricket

Sri Lankan opener Sanath Jayasuriya became the second cricketer to cross 13,000 runs in ODI cricket. Jayasuriya achieved the feat in the 14th over bowled by Ishant Sharma during the first ODI cricket match between India and Sri Lanka played at Rangiri Dambulla International stadium in Sri Lanka on 28 January 2009.

Indian opener Sachin Tendulkar is leading the ODI scorers list with 16,422 runs. It is good to see that both these greats are playing in this match. Sachin Tendulkar is playing in his 420th ODI while Jayasuriya is in his 428th ODI.

Jayasuriya has scored 27 centuries and 67 half-centuries before the commencement of the match. Jayasuriya is a real entertainer. Our salutes to him for the great achievement! Go on Sanath!

At the end of 15 overs, Sri Lanka are 59/1 with Jayasuriya on 38 (41 balls) and Sangakkara on 18 (47 balls). The current run rate is 3.93.

Read More...

Player of the Series Awards for Dhoni in ODI

In the last discussion, we saw the man of the match (player of the match) awards won by Mahendra Singh Dhoni in One Day Internationals. In this article, let us see the series awards, which is a fair indication of consistent performance throughout the entire series.

Awards in 2005
(1) Sri Lanka in India: In 7 matches, Dhoni scored 346 runs at an average of 115.33. This includes the unforgettable knock of 183* (15 fours and 10 sixes) at Nagpur which helped India to chase down a stiff target of 299 with ease. He also held 6 catches and effected 3 stumpings during this series. India won the series emphatically by a margin of 6-1.

Awards in 2006
Dhoni did not receive any "Player of the Series" awards in the year 2006.

Awards in 2007
(2) India in Bangladesh: The series was reduced to just two matches, after the last match was abandoned without a ball being bowled. In the two matches, Dhoni scored 127 runs with a top score of 91*. He held 1 catch and effected 2 stumpings. India won the series 2-0.

Awards in 2008
(3) India in Sri Lanka: Dhoni scored 193 runs from 5 matches with a high score of 76 and an average of 38.60. He held 3 catches and effected a stumping. India bounced back from 0-1 down to win the series 3-2. Dhoni's resolute batting helped India to counter the spin mystery of Ajantha Mendis. Dhoni was also lucky with the coin, as he called right on the first four occasions, which proved decisive.

Awards in 2009
(4) India in West Indies: Dhoni scored 182 runs from 4 matches with a high score of 95. He had an average of 91.00 in this series. Dhoni had to prove himself following the exit of Indian team from World Twenty20 2009 without even a single win in the Super Eights stage. He played crucial knocks in all the three matches in the series to help India register a 2-1 series win, with the last match being abandoned due to rain. He held 4 catches and stumped 2 batsmen out. He is once again lucky with the toss, winning on all the four occasions. His scores of 41, 95 and 46* took his batting average in ODIs to 50.18.

Read More...

Man of the Match Awards for Dhoni in ODI

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been a consistent performer in ODI matches for India. He could effortlessly change gears to suit the situation. He proved his attacking skills early in his career and his two innings, 148 against Pakistan and 183* against Sri Lanka, are proof of his aggression. Later, with more responsibility, he changed his style to a calm and cool aggregator. He could rotate his strike and open up during the end overs.

In this post, I have summarized the man of the match awards received by Dhoni in ODI matches. So far, he has received 9 awards from 120 matches played.

Awards in 2005
(1) ODI # 05, 05 Apr 05: vs Pakistan, 148 runs & 2 catches

(2) ODI # 22, 31 Oct 05: vs Sri Lanka, 183* runs & 1 catch

Awards in 2006
(3) ODI # 33, 13 Feb 06: vs Pakistan, 72* runs & 3 catches

Awards in 2007
(4) ODI # 70, 10 May 07: vs Bangladesh, 91* runs & 1 stumping

(5) ODI # 74, 10 Jun 07: vs Africa XI, 139* runs & 3 stumpings

(6) ODI # 88, 08 Oct 07: vs Australia, 50* runs & 2 stumpings

(7) ODI # 92, 05 Nov 07: vs Pakistan, 63 runs & 1 stumping

Awards in 2008
(8) ODI #114, 03 Jul 08: vs Sri Lanka, 67 runs & 2 catches

(9) ODI #118, 24 Aug 08: vs Sri Lanka, 76 runs & 2 catches

Awards in 2009
(10) ODI #131, 03 Mar 09: vs New Zealand, 84* runs, 1 catch, 1 stumping & effected a run-out

(11) ODI #138, 03 Jul 09: vs West Indies, 46* runs, 2 catches, 1 stumping and combined with Gautam Gambhir to effect a run-out

Read More...

Dhoni clinches LG ICC ODI Player of the Year Award

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has won the ODI Player of the year award at the LG ICC awards ceremony held in Dubai on 10 Sep 2008. This year’s LG ICC Awards included eight individual prizes, including a new one for the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year that went to Yuvraj Singh for his amazing six sixes off Stuart Broad.

Nominees for the award
India's one-day and Twenty20 International captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been nominated for the award along with Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Yousuf and Nathan Bracken. The award was given based on the players performance during the period between August 9, 2007 and August 12, 2008. Let us take a look at the comparison of the four players’ performance during the above period.

Analysis of the performances
The table below lists the performance of the four players during the mentioned period. The players include one bowler, two specialist batsmen and one wicket-keeper batsman.


It is very clear that everyone has performed well and it is difficult to prefer one above the other. During the period under consideration, Dhoni won three man of the match awards, Sachin too had three, Yousuf had two and Bracken was content with one. Yousuf had won the player of the series award for the South Africa series at home while Bracken clinched the series award for his performance during CB series in Australia.

Why the award went to Dhoni?
I believe Dhoni inched ahead of the others due to his wicket-keeping skills and his able captaincy. During this period, he has led the Indian team in 31 matches. The result is in favour of Dhoni with 16 wins, 12 losses and 3 matches with no result. Dhoni’s achievements, as captain, include a series victory over Pakistan at home, CB series triumph in Australia, finals appearance in Kitply cup and Asia cup. His batting average also shoots up to 59.10 while playing as a captain.

Milestone
Dhoni becomes the first Indian to win the ODI player of the year award. The last four awards went to England twice (Flintoff and Pietersen) and Australia twice (Hayden and Michael Hussey).

Other Awards

• Cricketer of the year: Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies)


• Test Player of the year: Dale Steyn (South Africa)


• Twenty20 International Performance: Yuvraj Singh (India)


• Emerging Player of the year: Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka)


• Captain of the year: Ricky Ponting (Australia)


• Umpire of the year: Simon Taufel (Australia)


• Associate Player of the year: Ryan ten Doeschate (Netherlands)


• Women’s Cricketer of the year: Charlotte Edwards (England)


• Spirit of Cricket award: Sri Lanka team

Read More...

Virat Kohli makes ODI debut

India vs Sri Lanka, India in Sri Lanka ODI Series (2008) - 1st ODI
Date: 18 Aug 2008

The India-Sri Lanka ODI series kicks off in a few minutes from now with the first match at Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium. The Indians start as underdogs after their surrender to Ajantha Mendis in the Asia Cup final and the debacle in the recently concluded test series.

The Indians have further bad news as in-form Virender Sehwag will not be playing in the first match due to injury. But, that's good news for at least Virat Kohli. Virat Kohli, the successful under-19 captain, makes his ODI debut against Sri Lanka as an opener. Will he deliver? Let us wait and see.

India has won the toss and Dhoni opted to bat first. A good decision. Dambulla stadium has been known for its low scores. The highest score here of 282 is by the home team against India in 2004. Sangakkara and Jayawardene were fabulous in that match, posting a 100+ partnership in about 15 overs. In that match, India chased the match and made 270/8, thanks to good knocks from Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh.

The outcome will depend on how well the Indians play Murali and Mendis, popularly known as M&M now. The Indian team for the match is as follows:

1 Gautam Gambhir
2 Virat Kohli
3 Suresh Raina
4 Yuvraj Singh
5 Mahendra Singh Dhoni
6 Rohit Sharma
7 Irfan Pathan
8 Pragyan Ojha
9 Harbhajan Singh
10 Zaheer Khan
11 Munaf Patel

Read More...

Dhoni in Test Match #29: Day 1

India vs South Africa, South Africa in India, 2008 - 3rd Test
Date: 11-13 April 2008

Day 1 (11 April 2008): Absorbing Battle Between Bat and Ball

South Africa won the toss and rightly chose to bat first on a track that assisted spin from the word go. No team would love to bat on the fifth day, if at all the match extends until then. At the end of the day, the South Africans were restricted to a challenging first innings total of 265. There is no necessity for India to bat as the South Africans were bowled out only in the 88th over of the day.

The bowling department, strengthened by the inclusion of Ishant Sharma, did perform well in helpful conditions. Ishant Sharma and Harbhajan Singh took three wickets each. Chawla picked two wickets while the part-timers Yuvraj Singh and Sehwag picked up a wicket each.

At one stage, it didn't look as good for India. The South Africans were comfortably positioned at 152 for 1. The opening pair of Graeme Smith and McKenzie put on 61 runs. That followed with confident half centuries from Smith and Amla. The Indians slowly and steadily clawed their way back in the post-tea session.

India made three changes to the team that lost the second test match. Ishant Sharma replaced the unimpressive R.P.Singh, Piyush Chawla stepped in for unfit Kumble and Yuvraj Singh came in for Irfan Pathan.

1st Innings:
South Africa 265 (Smith 69, Amla 51, Harbhajan Singh 3 for 52, Ishant Sharma 3 for 55)

Milestone:
Dhoni became the first wicket-keeper to captain the Indian test team. Dhoni was given the captaincy as the regular test captain Anil Kumble was declared unfit. With this, Dhoni has captained in all forms of the game, Test match, One Day International and Twenty20

Read More...

Tendulkar is just 250 runs away from the top

Sachin Tendulkar is playing on 87 at the Adelaide Test as I am writing this post. That has brought his Test career runs tally to 11703 runs, just 250 runs behind the leader Brian Lara who has accumulated 11953 runs. While Lara took 232 innings to compile his total score, Tendulkar is playing his 236th innings right now. Lara averaged 52.88 while Tendulkar’s average is hovering just above 55.

Will Tendulkar be able to surpass Lara in Australia with just one more possible innings? In fact, this is Tendulkar’s highest score at the Adelaide ground surpassing his previous best of 61 made during the 1999 tour.

Wow! Another Four! He moves on to 91 and just 246 runs away. Keep going man!

Read More...

Milestones

The following milestones were reached during the second test match between India and Bangladesh, played during 25-27 May 2007.

• Anil Kumble has quietly crossed his 550-wicket mark. It took him 115 matches and his wicket tally stands at 552 now.
• Ishant Sharma made his debut in the second test match and took his maiden wicket in the first innings.
• Dinesh Karthik hit his first test match hundred during this match. He brought up this feat in his 13th match and 18th innings. He now has 1 century and 3 half-centuries.
• Rahul Dravid scored his 24th century in 109 matches and 185 innings.
• Sachin scored his 37th century in his 137th match and 220th innings.
• Wasim Jaffer got to his 4th test hundred in 19 matches and 35 innings.

Read More...

Dhoni in ODI #5

India vs Pakistan, Pakistan tour of India (2005) ODI Series - 2nd ODI
Date: 5 April 2005

Catches : 2 / Stumpings :0
Batting: 148 runs (123 balls), 4s: 15/ 6s: 4

India won by 58 runs and lead the series 2-0.

Dhoni's maiden international century took India to a mammoth total of 356 for 9. Dhoni, coming in at #3 for the first time in his ODI career, scored the first ODI century by an Indian wicketkeeper, barring Rahul Dravid who should be considered as a part-time wicket keeper. He was given the "Man of the match" award, the first of many awards to follow.

Milestones:

• Dhoni's first ODI century
• Dhoni's first "Man of the Match" award
• Dhoni batting at #3 for the first time in an ODI
• First ODI century by a regular Indian wicket-keeper

Read More...

Dhoni in ODI #2

India vs Bangladesh, India in Bangladesh ODI Series - 2nd ODI
Date: 26 December 2004

Catches : 1 (Dhoni's 1st wicket in ODI, Nafees Iqbal c Dhoni b Agarkar) / Stumpings : 0
Batting: 12 runs (11 balls), 4s: 2 (Dhoni's first run in ODI)

Bangladesh scored 229/9 thanks mainly to Aftab Ahmad's 67. India, resting many of the senior players, could not chase down the total and finished at 214 in 47.5 overs. Sriram's 57 and Kaif's 49 were not enough in the end.

Result: Bangladesh won by 15 runs and the three match series is level 1-1.

Player of the match: Mashrafe Mortaza (Bangladesh), for his breezy 31 off 39 balls and good spell of 9-2-36-2.

Milestones:

1. Bangladesh's 100th ODI match


2. Bangladesh's first ODI victory over India


3. Bangladesh's first ODI victory at home


4. Bangladesh's sixth win in 100 matches


5. Dhoni's first catch in ODI to dismiss Nafees Iqbal off Ajit Agarkar


6. Dhoni scores first run in ODI

Read More...

Dhoni in ODI #1

India vs Bangladesh, India in Bangladesh ODI Series - 1st ODI
Date: 23 December 2004

Catches: 0 / Stumpings: 0
Batting: 0 (run out of the first ball he faced)

India, put in to bat, scored 245 for 8 wickets. The Indians recovered from 45/3 by 128 runs partnership between Rahul Dravid (53) and Kaif (80). Bangladesh just fell short of the target, after half-centuries from skipper Habibul Bashar (65) and keeper Khaled Mashud (50 not out).

Result:
India won by 11 runs and lead the three match series 1-0.

Player of the match:
Mohammad Kaif (India), for his 80 in 111 balls and a catch to dismiss Khaled Mahmud.

Milestones:

1. A disastrous ODI debut for Dhoni!

Read More...