Happy 42nd Birthday Rahul Dravid – 11 January
IND vs AUS: Test 2 – M Vijay’s 144 & 75* from Rahane in Brisbane
India vs Australia Test Series – STUMPS DAY 4 – #AusvInd #CricBol
NEWS – Shane Bond appointed as a new bowling coach for Mumbai Indians. #CricBol #IPL #MI
2014 year review: Best performing bowlers in test cricket
Most Test wickets in 2014: #CricBol #TestCricket
- Herath – 60 wickets
- Johnson – 47 wickets
- Anderson – 40 wickets
- Steyn – 39 wickets
- Sharma – 38 wickets
2014 year review: Best performing batsmen in test cricket
The total runs scored by the top 5 run scorers in Test Cricket during 2014 were:
- Sangakkara – 1493 runs
- Mathews – 1317 runs
- Younis Khan – 1213 runs
- McCullum – 1164 runs
- S Smith – 1146 runs
Surprisingly Unexpected Retirement
MS Dhoni announced his decision to retire from Test cricket after the end of the third Test against Australia in Melbourne.
The announcement was made via a press release just hours after the third Commonwealth Bank Test match at the MCG ended in a draw, returning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to Australia, who are 2-0 up with one Test to play.
Dhoni will continue to play one-day internationals and Twenty20 cricket for India. The BCCI statement from secretary Sanjay Patel said “Dhoni has decided to retire from Test cricket citing the strain of playing all formats of cricket.
The right-hander finished with a healthy batting record of 4876 runs in 90 Tests at an average of 38, while accounting for 256 catches and 38 stumpings behind the wickets.
DHONI PROVES TO BE A INDIA’S MOST SUCCESSFUL CAPTAIN –
- Most successful Indian skipper
- Most successful Indian skipper at home
- Most runs as India captain
- Highest individual score by an Indian captain
- Highest individual score by a wicket-keeper captain
- Highest individual score by an Indian wicket-keeper
- Most dismissals and most catches by an Indian wicket-keeper
- Most dismissals in a match by an Indian wicket-keeper
Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman)
MS Dhoni now aggregates 3454 runs with the bat as Test captain – the most by any Indian captain (Gavaskar 3449) & then announces retirement!
Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar)
Just feeling a bit sad about Dhoni’s retirement from Test Cricket. Didn’t see it coming at all. #DhoniRetiresFromTest
Anjum Chopra (@Anjum_Chopra)
Once a leader always a leader #Dhoni.One of the great success stories of Indian cricket am sure will be missed.#Performer #matchwinner @BCCI
India vs Australia – Match Review(2nd Test) – Test Series
Notwithstanding change of guard, India’s performance continues to be abysmal down under
Continuing the old tradition of not moping up the tail quickly, Indian bowlers under the usual skipper MS Dhoni, who was ruled out of the first test due to injury, let Australia off the hook on the 3rd day of 2nd test match at Brisbane. Replying to the first innings total of 408, Aussies at one time were left reeling at 250 odd for 6 before Steve Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc and others chip in with useful contribution to take the host to 505 and in the process gain a lead of 97 runs. Now, India will have to bat well in the second innings to stay afloat, which seems difficult looking at how things have gone so far in the series.
Apart from this test, there have instances of India blowing away the opportunity to win test matches at Wellington, New Zealand; and Johanesburg, South Africa; from a very good position. In fact the situation went to such an extent that India had to fight for a draw in both the test matches.
Too many short-pitched deliveries cause dismay
Just like what is being witnessed in this test match, there seems to be lack of planning from the Indian fast bowlers on overseas tours as they keep on bowling only bouncers to tailenders and forget to pitch the ball up to them. Johnson has been constantly peppered with short pitch stuffs for no avail. Don’t forget he is a handy batsman and a test hundred under his belt. It also remains baffling to note that nothing gets addressed to resolve this perennial mess even when the team is under the custody of Ravi Shastri, the man who was known to instill confidence amongst team members during his captaincy at both international and domestic level.
Injuries do not help the case either
Lack of fitness have for long prevented the Indian bowlers from going at full throttle to take 20 wickets overseas. A noticeable example is the case of Ishant Sharma who after playing couple of test matches remain absent for 3-4 test matches on a trot, causing imbalances in the side. May be it’s time he and other bowlers use the off season to get fit and ready for the grueling cricketing schedule.
PS – This article is written by Intern Vikas Das.
Josh Hazlewood’s five wicket haul on debut – AusVsInd Day 2
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SAvsWI: Stiaan van Zyl hits century on home Test debut -1st in SA
