VVS Laxman retires from International Cricket

Very Very Special Laxman has announced his retirement from international cricket with immediate effect ending a 16-year career. Laxman represented India in 134 Tests, scoring 8781 runs at 45.97. Laxman made six of his 17 Test centuries against Australia, with an average of 49.67 in 29 Tests and success both home and away. His innings against Australia at Eden Gardens in Kolkata in 2001 with his 281 runs is the greatest achievement, then the highest score by an Indian batsman in Tests. His stand with Rahul Dravid which set up a stunning victory for the home team after following on and ended Australia's consecutive 16-match winning streak is the most memorable match of this era fans. Accidentally his last match also came against Australia. He will be remembered for several innings of extreme elegance under pressure. He is known for his match saving innings. 

I would say his retirement as an end of a glorious chapter of Indian cricket. This graceful batsman has chosen to retire with dignity and kept his pain to himself. He has been constantly criticized for his poor show in last 2 series against England and Australia and also it was said that he is blocking the position young talents. When he was asked about criticism in the emotional press conference, he responded that right from the start of his career there have been a lot of people who wrote negative about him and there have been more people who have been well wishers and talked positive about him. In a country like India, where cricket is more like a religion than a sport, if you try to satisfy each and every one, it's next to impossible.

It is not easy to be a match-winner at any level. Laxman acquired this reputation at the international level. He is an exceptional cricketer, who excelled in pressure situations. If a cricketer’s greatness is to be measured, his performances against the best opposition of his time (Australia) speak for himself. He became the second Indian batsman after Tendulkar to score more than 2000 runs against the Aussies. With Laxman's retirement, only Sachin Tendulkar remains among the golden generation of Indian cricketers after the retirements of all former Indian captains - Anil Kumble, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid.    

Rahul Dravid leads Rajastan Royals

Rahul dravid “The Wall” named captain of Rajastan Royals team in IPL after Australian legend spinner Shane Warne announced his retirement. This year has been amazing for Dravid who scored 1,258 runs in 15tests with the help of 6 centuries and also received ‘Poly Umrigar Award for India’s best cricketer of 2010-2011’ by BCCI. Dravid was congratulated by ex-captain Shane Warne on his appointment. Dravid feels Rajastan Royals squad is full of energetic and talented players who know their roles. Let us congratulate Dravid who proves himself in all formats of game and started hitting sixes often in test cricket too. He is the only cricketer in the world who faced more than 5000 overs in test cricket.

Gautam Gambhir # 1 spot in Test Rankings

Gautam Gambhir has become the first Indian batsman in over four years to head the batting rankings in test matches.Yousuf, who had returned to the batting table last week in number-one position after his century in the first Test at Galle, scored only 10 and six in the second Test and, as such, he has dropped four places to fifth position. Pakistan captain Younus Khan was able retain his second position in the rankings but by conceding 12 points following scores of 0 and 82, he has fallen nine points behind Gambhir who has gone ahead of both the Pakistan batsmen without hitting a ball for the first time in his 25-Test in which he has scored 2,271 runs at an average of over 54.

Gambhir’s 847 points is relatively low for a number-one position in modern times as usually a batsman nearer to the 900-point mark goes to the top. The 27-year-old left-handed opener is the first India batsman after former captain Rahul Dravid to top the batting chart. Dravid had briefly become the number-one batsman after hitting centuries in each innings (110 and 135) of the Kolkata Test against Pakistan in March 2005. Dravid had first achieved the top batting ranking in January 1999 and has been number-one for 36 Tests between 1999 and 2005.

Sachin Tendulkar is the other India batsman in the last 15 years who has topped the batting chart. He first led the table in November 1994 while last time he occupied the number-one position was in August 2002 after the Leeds Test against England. Overall, Tendulkar has been the number-one batsman for 125 Tests between 1994 and 2002. The other India batsmen to have achieved number-one positions in their careers are: Gundappa Viswanath (seven matches in 1975), Sunil Gavaskar (46 matches between 1978-80) and Dilip Vengsarkar (17matches)

Dravid among Champions Trophy probables

Its happy to hear that Rahul Dravid is included among India's probables for the ICC Champions Trophy in September this year. The selectors picked a longlist of 30 players for the tournament, to be held in South Africa, including Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan. Dravid played his last ODI in October 2007 against Australia in Nagpur. He averages 39.49 with 10,585 runs from 333 games with a strike-rate of 71.22 and is the third Indian to accumulate more than 10,000 runs in ODIs. Dravid played a key role in the success of Royal Challengers Bangalore during the IPL's second season, scoring 271 runs at a strike-rate of 115.81 as the team finished runners-up in the tournament held in South Africa.

Probables: MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Abhishek Nayar, Ishant Sharma, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Praveen Kumar, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Munaf Patel, R Ashwin, M Vijay, Amit Mishra, Ajinkya Rahane, Dhawal Kulkarni, S Badrinath, Ashish Nehra, Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar Singh, Wriddhiman Saha, Pankaj Singh.