Indian Cricket Team Updates

Jos Buttler (70) became the fourth player to score fifties in first two Test innings as a wicketkeeper after India’s Dilawar Hussain, West Indies’ Desmond Lewis and Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal. (Also Read:  Report: England vs India, 4th Investec Test - Day 3 ) Pankaj Singh finally took his first Test wicket off his 416th delivery when he dismissed Joe Root. He is, however, very far off the record of most balls bowled by a bowler before taking his first Test wicket. Another Indian AG Milkha Singh holds this record, as his maiden Test wicket came off his 652nd ball! Stuart Broad had to retire hurt when Varun Aaron’s bouncer hit him on the face. The last batsman to get retired hurt against India after being hit was Australia’s Steve Waugh (Melbourne in December 2003). Waugh got hit on the left elbow by Ajit Agarkar. Indian openers once again failed to put on a fifty stand. It has now been 31 consecutive innings outside India that the opening pair has not managed a fifty-stand sin...

James Anderson (5/53) completed a five-wicket haul on his birthday. Interestingly he had also taken a five-wicket haul on his 28th birthday – against Pakistan at Trent Bridge in 2010. (Also Read:  Report: England vs India, 3rd Investec Test - Day 4 ) Alastair Cook provided the 13th instance of an opposing captain not enforcing the follow-on on India (despite being entitled to do so). Of the previous 12 such instances, India managed to earn a draw only once and lost 11. India lost all four against England in such circumstances.   (Also Read:  Will be hard to save the Test: Shikhar Dhawan ) Pankaj Singh conceded 179 runs in 47 overs without taking a wicket. He now holds the dubious distinction of conceding most runs by a wicketless bowler on debut. Pakistan’s Sohail Khan conceded 164 against Sri Lanka at Karachi in 2008-09. England’s run-rate of 5.04 in the second innings is their highest against India in an innings of 200 or more. At Lord’s in 1990 England h...

Ian Bell (167) made his third score in excess of 150 against India. He now shares the English record of most 150+ scores against India with Kevin Pietersen and Alastair Cook. (Also Read:  Report: England vs India, 3rd Investec Test - Day 2 ) Ian Bell, on 99, completed his 7,000 Test runs. He became 11th Englishman to do so. Gary Ballance (156) made his highest Test score, beating 110 also against India at Lord’s. Jos Buttler’s strike-rate of 102.40 (85 off 83 balls) is the second highest for a debutant in an innings of 80 or more. Only Shikhar Dhawan managed a higher strike-rate: 107.47 (187 off 174 balls) vs Australia at Mohali in 2012-13. Buttler’s innings is the highest by a wicketkeeper on Test debut against India, beating West Indies’ Desmond Lewis’ 81* at Georgetown in 1970-71. England’s 569 for seven declared provided the 45th instance of a side scoring 500 against India in first innings of a Test. Only once have India managed to win a Test out of 44 previous instances....

Everybody has dreams. Many surrender to fate and give up on them. Only a few gifted ones go on to write their own fate. And fewer show unflinching perseverance to fight their fate. (Also Read:  Stats Highlights: England vs India, 3rd Investec Test - Day 1 ) Pankaj Singh fought his fate. For 10 years. Season after season, match after match, day after day. Finally, he defeated the fate. Pankaj’s moment of victory came when he was presented with his first Test cap by Sourav Ganguly ahead of India’s third Test against England at the Ageas Bowl.  “You deserve it,” Ganguly told him.  (Also Read:  Report: England vs India, 3rd Investec Test - Day 1 ) Pankaj made his first-class debut in 2004, and in 2014, after 77 matches and 300 wickets, he lived the biggest dream of his life – to play Test cricket for India. “It’s a big achievement. It took me 10 years to get here,” Pankaj told  BCCI.TV  after the first day’s play. “This was my biggest dream, to play Test c...

This is the first Test to start on a Sunday in England. The break-up of starting days of Test matches: Friday-669, Thursday-660, Saturday-340, Wednesday-200, Monday-100, Tuesday-95 and Sunday-68.  Pankaj Singh became 282nd player to represent India in Test matches. He is the first Rajasthan player to play for India since Parthasarathy Sharma who played five Tests between 1974 and 1977. (Also Read:  I never gave up on my Test dream: Pankaj Singh ) Jos Butler became 665th player to represent England in Test matches. He is set to become 66th player to don wicketkeeping gloves for England. (Also Read:  Report: England vs India, 3rd Investec Test - Day 1 ) MS Dhoni was leading India for the seventh time in a Test in England- most by an India. He went ahead of Ajit Wadekar and Mohammad Azharuddin’s tally of six Tests. Alastair Cook was also leading England for the seventh time against India, equalling Nasser Hussain’s record. Only four players made their Test debu...

The Indians had a good long day in the field as sun shined brightly over the County Ground in Derby. The bowlers finished Day one of their second practice match, against Derbyshire, conceding 326 runs for 5 wickets in 90 overs.  (Usefull Link:  Report: Leicestershire vs Indians –Tour Match ) All the bowlers except Mohammad Shami had a bowl on the day. Shami didn’t take field as a precautionary measure for a mild strain in his left calf. He will bowl in the second innings, if there is one. ( Full  Coverage :  India Tour England-2014 ) While the bowlers sweated it out, the batsmen took turns to go off the match field and spend time in the nets behind the ground. MS Dhoni was in the nets in the beginning of the last session, handing over the keeping gloves to Wriddhiman Saha and captaincy duties to Virat Kohli. He returned on the field later and also bowled the last over of the day, much to the delight of the crowd. Every ball from the Indian captain was ...

Angus Robson (126) and Greg Smith (101) made merry against the Indian bowlers to take Leicestershire to 349 when stumps were drawn at the end of Day 3. The captains decided to shake hands with an hour and 22 overs to go in the match. (Usefull Link:  Report: Leicestershire vs Indians, Day 1–Tour Match ) The final session began with centurions Robson and Smith retiring from their innings, making way for Dan Redfern (58) and Michael Thornely (23*) in the middle. Ishant Sharma, who was taken for 58 runs in his eight overs, came back strongly to claim two wickets in his final over and hence finished with 9-0-64-2. He got Redfern caught at mid-off while Tom Wells edged one to first slip. (Full Coverage:  India Tour England-2014 ) Pankaj Singh (11-3-46-1) and Ravindra Jadeja (11-2-57-0) bowled the most number of overs while R Ashwin made a late appearance in the match, bowling two overs of the last four. After the second day of the match was washed out, the...

The All-India Senior Selection Committee met in Mumbai, earlier today, to pick the Indian teams for the tours of England. ( Useful Link:   India Squad for ODI Series in Bangladesh 2014 ) The teams are as follows: INDIAN TEAM FOR THE SERIES IN ENGLAND M.S. Dhoni Captain, Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Gautam Gambhir, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishwar Pandey, Ishant Sharma, Stuart Binny, Varun Aaron, Wriddhiman Saha, Pankaj Singh. source: bcci.tv