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.    

World's Highest-Paid Cricketers

   

1. Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Total Earnings: $26.5 million
Cricket Pay: $3.5 million
Endorsements: $23 million
National Team: India
IPL Team: Chennai Super Kings
Major Sponsors: Reebok, PepsiCo, Sony

 

2. Sachin Tendulkar

Total Earnings: $18.6 million
Cricket Pay: $2.1 million
Endorsements: $16.5 million
National Team: India
IPL Team: Mumbai Indians
Major Sponsors: Adidas, Coca-Cola, Castrol

3. Gautam Gambhir

Total Earnings: $7.3 million
Cricket Pay: $3.9 million
Endorsements: $3.4 million
National Team: India
IPL Team: Kolkata Knight Riders
Major Sponsors: Reebok, Red Bull, Hero Honda

4. Virat Kohli

Total Earnings: $7.1 million
Cricket Pay: $3.1 million
Endorsements: $4 million
National Team: India
IPL Team: Royal Challengers Bangalore
Major Sponsors: Nike, PepsiCo, Toyota

5. Virender Sehwag

Total Earnings: $6.9 million
Cricket Pay: $2.8 million
Endorsements: $4.1 million
National Team: India
IPL Team: Delhi Daredevils
Major Sponsors: Fila, Hero Honda, Royal Challenge

 

6. Shane Watson

Total Earnings: $5.9 million
Cricket Pay: $2.9 million
Endorsements: $3 million
National Team: Australia
IPL Team: Rajasthan Royals
Major Sponsors: Gunn & Moore, Asics, TAG Heuer

 

7. Michael Clarke

Total Earnings: $4.9 million
Cricket Pay: $2.7 million
Endorsements: $2.2 million
National Team: Australia
IPL Team: Pune Warriors India
Major Sponsors: Spartan Sports, Gillette, Bonds

 

8. Brett Lee

Total Earnings: $4.8 million
Cricket Pay: $1.8 million
Endorsements: $3 million
National Team: Australia*
IPL Team: Kolkata Knight Riders
Major Sponsors: Reebok, Gatorade, Vodafone

*Lee retired from international cricket in July, 2012.

 

9. Ricky Ponting

Total Earnings: $4.1 million
Cricket Pay: $1.8 million
Endorsements: $2.3 million
National Team: Australia
IPL Team: None
Major Sponsors: Kookaburra, Valvoline, Rexona

10. Yusuf Pathan

Total Earnings: $3.7 million
Cricket Pay: $3.3 million
Endorsements: $350,000
National Team: India
IPL Team: Kolkata Knight Riders
Major Sponsors: PepsiCo, Tata Indicom

MEN IN BLUE BAGS WORLD CUP -2011

Indian cricket team has won the ICC world cup 2011 defeating great giants like Australia in the quarter final, Pakistan in the semi final and Sri Lanka in the final match. This is the 10^th tournament of this edition and India is winning it for the second time after 28 years placing a full stop to the domination of Australia in cricket for almost 12 years. The last cup was bagged in 1983 under the captainship of Kapil Dev. India has become the first host-nation to win the world cup with final played in the host country itself. Indian Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was adjudged man of the match for his unbeaten 91 in the final. Yuvraj Singh was adjudged man of the series for his performance with both ball and bat. Dilshan was the leading scorer of this tournament with 500 runs. Shahid Afridi and Zaheer khan shared the leading wicket takers record. There were two hat-tricks in this tournament; one by Roach (WI) and another by Malinga (SL).

It was an emotional moment for everyone and could witness the tears from almost everyone’s face over their victory. The whole Indian team helped the great Sachin Tendulkar to his first title in six attempts. Tendulkar was lifted onto his teammates' shoulders for a victory lap. "He carried the hopes of the nation for 21 years so it's time we carried him on our shoulders," batsman Virat Kohli said. "It's the ultimate thing and I'm experiencing it. I couldn't have asked for anything better. It's the proudest moment of my life. It's never too late to say thanks to all my teammates. Without such fabulous performance and such consistency it would never have happened” Legend Sachin Tendulkar said. He also added that he wasn't too proud to shed a tear. "They were happy tears, so I wouldn't mind crying".  

The 2011 Cricket World Cup winning team, India would be taking home prize money of US$ 3 million and a replica of the ICC Cricket World Cup Trophy that has been awarded since 1999.  The runner-up Sri Lanka would have US$ 1.5 million in its part. The total prize money on offer for the tournament for the teams placing from 1st to 8th is US$7.48 million. The remaining two semi-finalists will receive 0.75 million US$ each. The last four quarter-finalists will each receive 0.37 million US$. 

M S D ahead of SACHIN

The newly married Indian cricket captain Dhoni has signed 200 crore endorsement deal with the talent Management Company, Rhiti Sports Management and Mindscapes. It will manage the Dhoni’s list of segments and brand associations, corporate profile, patents and digital rights, images, visibility on social networking sites and merchandise for the next two years through a joint venture. By doing it, he has surpassed Sachin Tendulkar in the corporate contract sweepstakes. Earlier Sachin had three-year deal with sports management firm Iconix signed in 2006. It was worth Rs 180 crore where the value is low by 20 crores and a year when compared with Dhoni’s statistics. Apart from Dhoni, Rhiti Sports also manages his teammates R P Singh and Harbhajan Singh. As of now, Dhoni is associated with 22 brands such as PepsiCo, Reebok, Aircel etc and is India’s most expensive sportsperson. Still Dhoni stays ahead of Sachin after his first clash victory in IPL final.

Sachin Tendulkar hits Double Century

The only record left for sachin in ODI has also been achieved by him now. Yes, Sachin Tendulkar has become the highest run scorer in international one day cricket. The master blaster scored a double ton to create history in cricket surpassing Charles Coventry’s 194* and Saeed Anwar’s 194 runs against India in Chennai. Sachin played a masterclass innings to complete his double ODI double century in 147 balls. He thrashed the Proteas bowling for 25 fours and 3 sixes. He was cramping towards the end of the match, but didn’t give up. SA was in deep trouble from the beginning, after setting out on leather hunt in Gwalior. As the master blaster seemed in tremendous form there was not stopping; overwhelming the Gwalior crowd.  Eventually Sachin dabbed a full and wide ball through the point to score his double century on the third delivery by Langeveldt. This was Sachin’s 46th ODI century following his century at the test match in Eden Gardens, Kolkata. There could hardly be an attribute to befitting the legend of Indian cricket who has always spoken with his bat. It was a match celebrated like a festival by the fans whenever the ball reaches the boundary. I am still thinking, is there any records left for him to be made? What a player he is!

Sachin’s idea – Will save ODI format ?

Sachin Tendulkar has given a suggestion over the future of the 50-over game. To save One-Day Internationals from extinction, revamp them by giving both sides two innings of 25 overs each. Think of it as a sort of 'Test T-25'!. Tendulkar said such a split would ensure increased excitement and closer games, since it would negate the luck factor of the toss and ensure a level playing field for both sides in case of day-night games, when batting becomes difficult under lights. "Today, we can tell the result of close to 75% of matches after the toss. We know how conditions will affect the two teams. But it (splitting the game into two innings) is not too dependent on the toss because, (if) for example it's a day-night match, then both the teams will have to bat under lights. In those 25 overs you can use your 10 wickets the way you want. Suppose if it rains, then (also) you can plan," Tendulkar said.  But Kapil Dev opposed this idea and he wants to be continued in a same format. Let see what the future decides…

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)

Worst Media Blooper

Times Of India shamelessly published a news saying Vinod Kambli in a TV interview said Sachin let him down when he could have helped him to make a comeback to the Indian team.This made a huge headlines and worst reality show is that no one even confirmed the news and this is shameful from a national media because the truth is it was a and Vinod Kambli was asked some questions and he was connected to lie detector and the lie detector showed that he answered negatively for those questions asked by the particular reporter.Now this is ridiculous.Because the lie detector narco analysis is just to frighten criminals but they have not cracked a single case including the Abdul Karim Telgi stamp paper scam.So its just a gimmick and if this finds a place in national newspaper I am afraid there is no need for media.

There can't be a humble person than Kambli and he has every right to file a defamation suit against all people who shamelessly tarnished him and trying to create ripples between one of the natural pairs in Indian cricketing history.Forget all these is this the way you treat a national icon like Sachin by accusing a friend as a traitor.