NICK NAME : Men in Blue, Team India
FOUNDED: 1926
TEAM OWNER(S): Board of Control of Cricket in India
PROMINENT PLAYERS: Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble
One of the most consistent parts internationally today, India has progressed massively as a nation of cricket since it formally began at the highest stage with a test match against England in 1932. From Colonel CK Nayudu, first captain of the India, even holder Virat Kohli, India, has reached great heights with great men who have competed and won against the best in the world.
The sixth team to be granted the status of test match, India’s first victory in the longest format came in 1952, when they defeated England in Madras (now Chennai) in the fifth and final match to level the series 1-1. That was the beginning of a long road of success, led appropriately by one of the best all-terrain players in Vinoo Mankad, who took 8/55 in the first innings and another four in the match to establish a victory in the innings. Other respected names that were part of that victory included Captain Vijay Hazare, one of the best hitters in India who now has the one-day national tournament that bears his name; Lala Amarnath, whose children Surinder and Mohinder would follow his example in representing the country; and the stout Polly Umrigar, who could play all the shots in the book even in those days.
Quietly, a group of unknown and underestimated cricketers began to gain recognition in the world with the boom of talents such as MAK Pataudi, Vijay Manjarekar, Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev. In the 1970s there was one of the bowling alliances the world’s most successful: Srinivas Venkataraghavan, who did not participate in the rotation, and who would lead India in the World Cups in 1975 and 1979; left goalkeeper Bishan Singh Bedi; the leggiver Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and another bowler in Erapalli Prasanna.
On the other hand, the batting boasted of Gavaskar; Kapil, who was one of the four fantastic of all times in those days; Dilip Vengsarkar and Mohinder Amarnath. The four will then lift the 1983 World Cup, a disconcerting triumph against the most unlikely of the oppositions in the final. By the time the last window of the West Indies fell and they stopped before the Indian total, a new era had dawned on Indian cricket.
The new found heroes of the nation had suddenly forced the world to sit down and take note of the skill that Indian cricket offers; the historical achievement had led to abrupt interest in a game that the then younger generation began to take seriously once India was crowned champion; and a proud Kapil raising the most coveted trophy on the Lord’s balcony inspired hundreds of aspiring cricketers to believe that they too belonged.
Two years later, the men under Gavaskar took home the Cricket World Championship trophy, defeating Pakistan’s great rivals in the final. In the late 1980s, when the dominant Gavaskar bidding farewell to the game came a modern legend in Sachin Tendulkar. The short but shocking teenager served in Indian cricket for 24 years, finishing a career in which he had all the international records in his possession between Test and ODI cricket. On his way to unfathomable greatness, Tendulkar wrote one memorable blow after another, forming part of the Four Fabulous of the middle order of India, where the others were Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly.
Unfortunately, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, Indian cricket was affected by the match-fixing scandal, paving the way for the exit of the talisman Mohammad Azharuddin, but Ganguly held together a broken unit to flourish a golden period for sport in the country. Below him, an attitude of aggression was imposed on the players who learned to find the eye of the opposition in the eye. India had deciphered the winning code overseas, beating England in the Leeds Test and Australia in Adelaide in 2002 and 2003, respectively. On South African soil in early 2003, India reached the final of the World Cup, and the following year, Pakistan was defeated 2-1 in its own backyard for the first time in a series of tests.
But the first stone of those rich results was placed with the victory in the famous Test of Calcutta against Australia in 2001, initiated by a monstrous association of 376 between Dravid and Laxman, as India won convincingly despite continuing. Very soon, even the shortest format was conquered by them when a group of smart young people led by MS Dhoni lifted the T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007.
Four years later, the growth of Dhoni would lead to India crowned world champion with the victory of the World Cup at home; and by 2013, he would also add the Champions Trophy to his kitten, where India was unbeaten in all five games.
The power of modern international cricket, the tireless efforts and investments of the BCCI have come a long way in India, above the rest in terms of financial powers and, to some extent, influence in world cricket. They have managed to convince the ICC to assign a separate window for the lucrative IPL that takes place annually, a tournament that started the T20 leagues based on franchises around the world where the best cricketers are being pursued with great interest.
In fact, Indian cricket has come a long way since the days of CK Nayudu, with Virat Kohli now responsible for the current generation, whose base has been built by his predecessors since 1932.
SQUAD
| PLAYER | ROLE | STYLE | AGE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ravindra Jadeja | All-rounder | – | 30 |
| Cheteshwar Pujara | Batsman | Right Handed | 30 |
| Lokesh Rahul | Batsman | Right Handed | 26 |
| Hardik Pandya | All-rounder | Right Handed | 25 |
| Ishant Sharma | Bowler | Right Arm Fast Seam | 30 |
| Jasprit Bumrah | Bowler | Right Arm Fast Seam | 25 |
| Prithvi Shaw | All-rounder | Right Handed | 19 |
| Rishabh Pant | Wicket Keeper | – | 21 |
| Parthiv Patel | Wicket Keeper | – | 33 |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar | Bowler | Right Arm Fast Seam | 28 |
| Ajinkya Rahane | Batsman | Right Handed | 30 |
| Kuldeep Yadav | Bowler | Left Arm Unorthodox | 24 |
| Murali Vijay | Batsman | Right Handed | 34 |
| Hanuma Vihar | Batsman | Right Handed | 25 |
| Umesh Yadav | Bowler | Right Arm Fast Seam | 31 |
| Mayank Agarwal | Batsman | Right Handed | 27 |
| Mohammed Shami | Bowler | Right Arm Fast Seam | 28 |
| Virat Kohli | Middle Order Batsman | Right Handed | 30 |
| Rohit Sharma | Batsman | Right Handed | 31 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | Bowler | Right Arm Off Spin | 32 |