Most of this criticism expects Sachin Tendulkar to retire and a flowchart created by Guruprasad Gp has nicely explained, how some critics obsess over Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement.

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The Sachin Must Retire Flowchart! is a post from Cric Talks

Rahul Dravid has often been over shadowed by more flamboyant players throughout his career. He scored a technically superb 95 on debut in England, but that innings was overshadowed by Saurav Ganguly’s debut century. The same thing happened almost all through his career. He was over shadowed by the towering records of Sachin Tendulkar or the stylish VVS Laxman.

But the simple truth is Rahul Dravid was not just a very good batsman but the single consistent reason why India started winning test matches outside India.

He played a 164 tests and scored 13,288 runs. That is the second most runs scored by a cricketer in the world. He averaged a fantastic 52.31. But that is a incomplete story of his real impact on India cricket.

A lot of experts say that India’s most glorious run in test cricket was when Ganguly was the captain. When Ganguly was the captain, Dravid scored 4912 runs at an incredible average of 73.31. In the 21 tests which India won under Ganguly, Dravid averaged an even more incredible 102.84.

As a captain not a lot of people gave Dravid much importance. But he did lead as captain to India winning a test series in West Indies and also England and is the only Indian captain to win in both these countries.

The famous venues that India won test matches abroad over the last decade are Leeds, Rawalpindi, Kingston, Adelaide, Perth. All of these matches featured a high scoring innings by Dravid.

If India was touring abroad and winning, it was only because a certain Rahul Dravid had scored runs. He has an average of 69.48 runs in the 24 matches India won aboard.

It is no surprise that the last overseas victory India had in Sabina Park against West Indies, also featured a match winning century by Dravid.

‘The Wall’ might have called it a day and retired but he certainly won’t ever be forgotten.

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Rahul Dravid: India’s Overseas Emperor! [Stats] is a post from Cric Talks

Yesterday, Sehwag decided to do some catching up and not only with a fantastic hundred but a double hundred. He broke Tendulkar’s 200* which was the world record before.

Here is a infographic I made about Sehwag’s journey to the world record-breaking 219 runs.

Hopefully Sehwag takes this murderous form to Australia where India will play a test series starting 25th December 2011.

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Virender Sehwag’s Record Breaking 219 [Infographic] is a post from Cric Talks

The first day ended with Australia on 214/8 with Micheal Clarke not out on 107. On day two, Clarke went on to score 151, while Australia scored 284.

South Africa was then blown away by Australia for a paltry 96.

Australia started the 3rd innings with a commanding lead of 188 runs. Australia was all set for a victory and guess what? They choked. Bowled out for only 47 runs it left South Africa to get 236 to win. The second day had started with the 1st innings and ended with the 4th innings resuming.

No more drama unfolded and the match was won with only 2 wickets being lost in the 4th innings.

Both teams in one innings managed so score over 200 while in another could not manage to reach 100.

Usually South Africa known to be chokers, especially against Australia ended up winning from a difficult position. Australia on the other hand did something they never do, which is choke when victory is in sight.

Both these teams are not ranked #1 and it is now over 2 years that Australia has been ranked behind India in Tests. Also England is the worlds #1 team. The world of cricket has truly turn around.

(post inspired via @mani0993)

Link: Score Card

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Tables Turned: Australia Choke, South African Win is a post from Cric Talks

The announced squad includes:

Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Virat Kohli, Varun Aaron, Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Sharma.

MS Dhoni will be captain and wicket-keeper.

Why Harbhajan Singh was dropped?

The off-spinner has been controversial and a great fighter. He has taken over 400 wickets in test matches. But let’s go over his test record for the year 2011.

Test Record of Harbhajan Singh in 2011

Tests: 06

Wickets: 20

Average: 38.05

Those numbers have been pathetic when compared to his career where he averages more than 4 wickets per test match. I think unlike other cricketers; he has not got a rest. He has played continuously for over a year, until getting injured in England. Even after a comeback he should have bowled in longer format in the Irani Trophy rather than playing Champions League for Mumbai Indians; then that is a different argument for a different post.

Maybe a break would do him a lot of good and not harm. But being over 30, it might be difficult to make a comeback with youngsters breathing down his neck.

What are your views on Harbhajan Singh being dropped from the Test team? Do drop in your comments.

(Stats complied with Stats Guru)

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Why Harbhajan Singh is Dropped from Indian Team [Stats] is a post from Cric Talks

The nickname of ‘The Wall’ was apt and proven once again with Indian team struggling hopelessly in England but Dravid standing tall amongst the ruins, with 3 centuries in the Test series.

The selectors looked for a savior and selected Rahul Dravid marking his return to ODI format of the game.

Ironically, Dravid on being selected decided to declare it his last ODI series and retire from this format of the game. Today will be his last game. Here are some of his achievements in his ODI career spanning 15 years.

Dravids – ODI Career Stats

Dravid also was a safe fielder and has kept wickets for many matches.
He has taken 72 catches as a wicket-keeper while taking 124 catches as a fielder. He also has 14 dismissals as stumped taking his total dismissals while fielding to 210.

Further more Dravid bowled 31 overs and took 4 wickets as a bowler.

Dravid’s Captaincy Record in ODI

Rahul Dravid was not a celebrated captain mostly because of India being knocked out in the first stages of the World Cup in 2007. But his captaincy record is quite impressive in ODI format.

He captained India in 79 matches, winning 42 of them. This was a success rate of over 53%. This rate is marginally superior to even Ganguly’s success rate as captain which around 52%.

Do you think he deserves a lot more credit than he gets for Indian cricket and its achievements over the past decade and a half? Do drop in your comments.

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India’s Wall: Rahul Dravid’s ODI Career Statistics! is a post from Cric Talks

I wonder if BCCI means the Board of Control for Cricket Injuries??

Here is the list of players injured in this tour of England:

1. Virender Sehwag
2. Gautam Gambhir
3. Sachin Tendulkar
4. Rohit Sharma
5. Yuvraj Singh
6. Harbhajan Singh
7. Ishant Sharma
8. Zaheer Khan

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BCCI: Board of Control for Cricket Injuries! is a post from Cric Talks

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Here are five reasons India lost the series 4-0

1. Batting Flopped: India’s best batsman in this series was Rahul Dravid who scored 3 centuries. No one else scored a hundred and the Indian team scored 300 runs only once.
2. Bowling Flopped: The bowling derailed from the first day onwards. Zaheer Khan was out of the first Test with an injury, Harbhajan Singh was similarly gone after the second. Amit Mishra did not impress with the ball. Praveen Kumar was probably the most impressive and was leading India’s bowling attack. Considering he has made his test debut only a month ago, leaves a lot to desire about India’s bench strength.
3. Bad Selections: Rohit Sharma, arguably India’s best batsman from the younger lot, was not picked to play Test matches. Munaf Patel was left stranded while a late addition into the team like RP. Singh was immediately picked for a match.
4. Too Much Cricket and Injuries: India did not play a single test match without injury problems. The first test saw Zaheer Khan injured, second test saw Harbhajan Singh injured. Third Test started without many more injuries but it ended with Praveen Kumar being injured. After the fourth Test Sehwag and Ishant Sharma are returning to India after injuries. The number of players being injured probably resembles a rugby team and not a cricket team. This is probably because of way too much Cricket being played over the past couple of years.
5. BCCI: The BCCI seems hardly interested in Test cricket. There is no explanation possible for a tour of England with only a single practice game. Guess what India is touring Australia in December this year, and according to schedule, India has only one club level practice game before the Test series.

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5 Reasons India got White Washed – Slip to #3 rank in Test Cricket is a post from Cric Talks

Here is a quick poll on what you think might be the reason India lost the #1 ranking in Tests.

If you have more inputs about the downfall of the Indian cricket team, do share these views in your comments.

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Why did India lose #1 Test Ranking? [Poll] is a post from Cric Talks

If you are keen to catch matches online, then tune in to Youtube.com/tensports for a live streaming of the three test matches.

Test Series Schedule (West Indies v India 2011)

• 1st Test: West Indies v India at Kingston (June 20-24, 2011)
• 2nd Test: West Indies v India at Bridgetown (Jun 28 – July 2, 2011)
• 3rd Test: West Indies v India at Roseau (July 6 – 10, 2011)

It will also feature Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina as Test regulars, while it will be the first time MS Dhoni captains India after the famous World Cup victory.

So who do your think will win the series? Drop in your comments.

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Watch India vs West Indies Test Series Live Streaming on Internet is a post from Cric Talks