Virender Shewag Dropped for Australia Tests, Is it all over?

Dashing Opener Virender Sehwag has been axed from ongoing Australian tests which were scheduled to play in Mohali and Delhi. Former Captain Sourav Ganguly feels this is harsh decision taken by the selectors to drop match winning player like Viru.

Virender Sehwag dropped for Australia Tests of Home Series

All eyes were on India’s team selection for remaining tests, as expected the Delhi batsmen has lost his way out from the team. Earlier, his partner Gautam Gambhir has also been omitted for Australia series due to lack of form.

BCCI Secretary Sanjay Jagdale announced the 14 member squad in which selectors decided against picking a replacement for Sehwag. However, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh who was shaky has retained his spot. There was no replacement in place of Sehwag, which suggest that either Shikhar Dhawan or Ajinkya Rahane might find a place in final playing XI.

34-year-old Sehwag has failed to perform in 5 consecutive Tests after scoring a century in the opening game against England in home series at Ahmedabad in November-December last year. Later, he was failed meet the expectations in New Zealand Test series. Viru has only managed 198 runs in 8 innings of Australia series.  

Meanwhile, Rahul Dravid earlier stated that selectors need to take a call on Sehwag. By the exclusion of Virender Sehwag selectors made it clear that any player who is out of form will be dropped looking ahead of Indian cricket future. Selectors are keen to encourage young talents as Team India will be travelling to South Africa and New Zealand later this year.

Sourav Ganguly shared his views saying that, Sehwag is a game changer unfortunately he has been failed to perform consistently, but sure he will make his comeback grand. Dada also hinted there by omitting Viru will now put more pressure on Bhaji. So Hrabhajan should take 5-wicket haul in his next outing?

Dravid felt that Sehwag can be dropped down the batting order and by giving chance to open in home advantage for a new player, will boost his confidence to face some of the best bowling attacks of South Africa with likes of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander in overseas.

The Prince of Kolkata hinted a word of advice to Viru ‘Don't give up, go and play county cricket and you will come back stronger.’ However, Sehwag vowed to make his comeback to Indian Team.

Indian squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt.), Sachin Tendulkar, Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, Ashok Dinda, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Dhoni surpass Ganguly, Most Successful Test Captain

MS Dhoni becomes India's Best Test Captain to go past Sourav Ganguly, with India's humiliating win against Australia with innings and 135 run win in 2nd test Hyderabad.

Dhoni overtakes Ganguly, India Most Successful Test Captain

It was Dhoni's 22nd win as Test Capatain in his 45 Tests, with a siginificant winning percentage 47, and in process he goes past most aggressive and decisive former captain Sourav Ganguly's record of 21 victories from 49 Tests. Ganguly's feet of 21 Test wins stood for eight years before Dhoni overtook him after inflicting another humiliating loss on Australia. Ganguly is reckoned as India's most successful captain in all formats. 

MS Dhoni's achievement is also worth notice because his 22 wins have come in 45 matches while Ganguly captained India in 49 Tests. What differs Dhoni from Ganguly is the fact that Ganguly had more wins outside of India but the former has more time on his hands now, it seems. Dhoni's latest feat comes after he had previously led the team to title triumphs at the World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007, and in the 50-over World Cup in India in 2011. There was also the No. 1 ranking in Test cricket, which India held between December 2009 and August 2011.

Also, Dhoni has already achieved what Ganguly never managed - a win in South Africa and New Zealand - but still has to prove his worth in Australia and England.

Dhoni has recorded more wins in fewer games than Ganguly. Dhoni also has three overseas wins, one each in New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies. Besides Dhoni and Ganguly, lets check some of Indian Captain stats as well...Mohammed Azharuddin is third in list with 14 wins, followed by Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and Sunil Gavaskar are tied on fourth with nine wins each. 

Player	Matches	Won	Lost	Draw	Tied	Win %	Loss %
MS Dhoni	45	22	12	11	0	47.72	27.27
Sourav Ganguly	49	21	13	15	0	42.85	26.53
Mohammed Azharuddin	47	14	14	19	0	29.78	29.72
Sunil Gavaskar	47	9	8	30	0	19.14	17.02
M. A. K. Pataudi	40	9	19	12	0	22.50	47.5
Rahul Dravid	25	8	6	11	0	32.00	24.00
BS Bedi	22	6	11	5	0	27.27	50.00
Ajit Wadekar	16	4	4	8	0	25.00	25.00
Kapil Dev	34	4	7	22	1	11.76	20.58
Sachin Tendulkar	25	4	9	12	0	16.00	36.00

However, Dhoni captaincy came under sever criticism after India's summer of England in 2011, as they lost series with 4-0 and also whitewashed by Australians in their soil in 2012. Later India lost home series to Englishmen to 2-1 on home soil since 1984-85. So, Dhoni's captaincy will be more scrutinised in abroad test.....

India defeat Australia, with innings and 135 runs in 2nd Test Hyderbad

Hope, India comes good under the captaincy of MS Dhoni to retain ICC Test Team..

Novak Djokovic Wins 4th Dubai Open Title

Novak Djokovic defeats Tomas Berdych 7-5, 6-3 in the finals of Dubai Duty Free Championship 2013 on Saturday. There by, Djokovic extended his unbeaten winning streak run to 18 matches as he clinches to Dubai Open title for the 4th time.

Djokovic Defeats Bedrych At Dubai Open Finals 2013

World No.1 Novak Djokovic extended his unbeaten streak this year to 13 matches by beating third-seeded Tomas Berdych, 7-5, 6-3, on Saturday in the Dubai Championships in the United Arab Emirates. Djokovic has outclassed Berdych for the 13 times in their 14 meetings.

Serbian Novak Djokovic won his fifth title in six as he clinched a fourth Dubai Open title with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Tomas Berdych. Djokovic has played with lots of confidence which was evident in his game rather than of his opponent, Bedrych. World No.6 from the Czech Republic, who knocked down defending champion Roger Federer in semi-finals couldn't cable show the same intent in finals of Dubai Open 2013.

25-year-old Dojokovic played with an athletically aggressive performance, where as Bedrych has some moments to cherish. Tomas Bedrych had chances to take control of the first set, as he got first blood by breaking Djokovic serve, later in the game he missed 3 chances to consolidate it, and also narrowly failed to convert three crucial break points as well. However, those little small errors were too many to deal with for defeating a class act of Novak Djokovic. 

Coming off from, Australian Open 2013 title five weeks ago Dubai Open 2013 is something very sweet one, said Djokovic. He continued saying that, he wasn't the one who loves to play on the fast, super-fast surfaces like this one. But winning he is happy for his past week performances in the tournament and looking forward for the year’s opening Masters event getting under way at Indian Wells next week.

Novak Djokovic Wins 4th Dubai Open Title

Federer, Djokovic advances into Dubai Semi-finals 2013

Federer eyes Dubai Open

Defending Champion Roger Federer and world no.1 Novak Djokovic enters semi-finals of Dubai ATP Open 2013. Federer defeated Russia's Nikolay Davydenko 6-2, 6-2, while Djokovic suprassed Andreas Seppi with a trampling 6-0, 6-3, continuing his unbeaten rally of 11 in 2013. 

Both Swiss maestro Federer and Serbian star Djokovic are now just a foot away from final showdown of Dubai Open 2013. Former world no.1, Roger Federer has once again proved that he is master class by winning quarters match against 5-time champion Nikolay Davydenko, with impressive score line  6-2, 6-2 and in only 54 minutes. Fedex earned semi-final berth against Tomas Berdych by defeating D. Tursunov withy 6-3, 6-2.

Djokovic enter Dubai Open Semis

Meanwhile, 7 Time grand slam champion extended his winning streak to 11 in 2013, by trashing Andreas Seppi with score tag of 6-0, 6-3. Serbian seemed to be unstoppable and will be hard to overcome this macho man of tennis. And now, Djokovic will be facing former US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro, who defeated Daniel Brands 6-4, 6-2 in quarter-finals of Dubai Duty Free Championship.

It seems to be Roger Federer Vs Novak Djokovic Dubai Open finals 2013. Will, 17 Time grand slam champion will chance his luck to overcome Novak Djokovic to regain his world no.1 crown or Novak Djokovic continues his unbeaten streak to surpass all time legend?!

Is Roger Federer Era Came to End?

Roger Federer, the Swiss Maestro, who has 17-Grand slam titles in his career and held the ATP number one position for a record 237 consecutive weeks and 302 weeks as World's no.1 player. He has got nothing to prove as the Swiss Maestro has achieved literally everything successful as a tennis player would dream of. However, his recent outings on court have ended in a bad taste against Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, but for tennis lovers and his followers, it would be too early to believe that its time up for this Swiss Ace.

31-year-old Federer, who has lost 2013 Australian Open semi finals to his rival World No. 3 Andy Murray in thrilling five sets, he will be working hard in training session along with his coach Paul Annacone on his weapons. Swiss legend has been standing at No. 2 place with 10,265 points, while Djokovic grabs No 1 place with 12920 points in ATP Rankings. Swiss legend is trailing by 2655 points to Djokovic top spot and he is eyeing to show best performance in the upcoming tournaments.

Meanwhile, World No. 3 Andy Murray has been playing best tennis of his career and he is having ability to stun Federer on the ATP Tour Scot needs to play consistent tennis to clinch more ATP Tour titles including Grand Slams. Rafel Nadal, who is coming out of knee surgery is aiming high to upset all his competitors. So one has to wait and see who can get their hands on World No.1 Title in 2013.

Former World No. 1 Roger Federer is going to return back to top form for the upcoming ATP Tournament at the 2013 ABN AMRO World Tennis, which will begin this month on indoor hard courts in UAE. Federer is likely to be seeded as No. 2 ahead of the Novak Djokovic as No. 1 at the 2013 ABN AMRO World Tennis tournament.

Let hope that Roger Federer can clinch the world no.1 rank and continue his dominance in world tennis...!!!!!!!!!

Sachin Tendulkar Announces Retirement - Calls it a Day

Sachin Tendulkar announces retirement form One-Day Internationals after playing 463 matches with 18,426 runs. Finally, after all the media reports asking Sachin to retire, he calls it day but not from Test format.

Sachin stated that “I have decided to retire from the One Day format of the game, i feel blessed to be part of World Cup wining Indian team. Fulfilling his dream to win a World Cup 2011 and preparatory process to World Cup 2015 should begin right now! Sachin thanked all his well wishers for their support and love over the years. The Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar wished the India to have bright days in the future. Sachin said that, India should look for new talent to defend title in 2015!!

God of Cricket Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is considered as one of the greatest batsmen of all times, in ODIs and his statistics say that Sachin is by far the most successful one-day batsman in history of cricket.

	Matches	Runs	Batting Avg	100s	50s
ODI	463	18426	44.83	49	96
Test	194	15645	54.32	51	66
T20	1	10	10	-	-
IPL	64	2047	37.90	1	12

39-year-old Tendulkar played 463 ODIs and made a record 18,426 runs with 49 hundreds and 96 half-centuries. His last ODI appearance was earlier this year in the Asia Cup against Pakistan in Dhaka, where he scored 50 in a winning knock. Incidentally, his first ODI appearance also was against Pakistan - way back in December 18, 1989 in Karachi where he failed to trouble the scorers

Little Master, Sachin played a key role in India's 2011 World Cup triumph in the sub-continent. He was also the first batsman to score 200 runs in an ODI innings, against South Africa in Gwalior in 2010. Earlier he stated that winning world cup is the proudest moment of his life. He went to say that, “I couldn't control my tears of joy” after fulfilling his dream in his home ground.

His recent doesn’t reflect his career stats as he is leading run scorer in ODI’s and second-best in the list, former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, has already retired from the game with 13,704. Next to them is, Sri Lanka's retired great Sanath Jayasuriya occupies the third spot in the overall chart with 13,430 runs.

Sachin Batting Performance:

	Matches	Innings	Runs	N.O	Best	Bat Avg	100s	50s	4’s	6’s	Catches
ODI	463	452	18426	41	200	44.83	49	96	2016	195	140
Test	194	320	15645	32	248	54.32	51	66	2024	67	114
T20	1	1	10	-	10	10.00	-	-	2	-	1

Besides his batting, Tendulkar was an effective partnership-breaking bowler and finishes his ODI career with 154 wickets, including two five-wicket hauls.

Sachin Bowling Performance:

	Matches	Balls	Runs	Wickets	Best	Avg	Eco	S/R	5’s	10’s
ODI	463	8054	6850	154	5-32	44.48	5.11	52.3	2	-
Test	194	4186	2459	45	3-10	54.64	3.53	93.02	-	-
T20	1	15	12	1	1-12	12	5.22	15	-	-

Sachin Tendulkar's Test records are as awe-inspiring. The right-hander has 15,645 runs at an average of 54.32 in 194 Tests that he has played so far. The tally includes 51 hundreds and 66 half-centuries.