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..

Ganguly concerned over India's show at abroad

Indian former captain Sourav Ganguly was not much delighted by the winning streak of Indian on home turf against England. In the –match ODI series India are 4-0 up and looking for clean sweep. But Ganguly real concern is over Team India’s failure show at abroad after performing well for some time.

The Prince of Kolkata said that India in India is one of the toughest teams to defeat. So nothing much pleasure and surprise factor that are doing well in all the departments of fielding, bowling and in particular batting against England in home series. Team India relatively went in with young team as many of the seniors were under rehab and some were ignored. The young guns of Team India are really doing well as a team with much ease and confidence than in England summer, which is pleasing to see.

However, ‘Dada’ expressed his concern at the team's lacklustre shows at abroad. He believes that the real concern is failing to win matches outside India.  They haven't done well abroad for a long time now, he said.

Ganguly recalled the India’s tour to England in July-September, where India failed to win a single match as they with washed in all formats of the Tests with 5-0, one-dayers with 3-0 and also lost only T20 played in the series.  However, the MS Dhoni-led team has bounced back by winning the four ODIs of the home series at Hyderabad, Delhi, Mohali and Mumbai and also eyeing for 5-0 to wrap the series. Now, it’s the payback series for England and Indians are showing no mercy.

Sourav Ganguly is confident that off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who axed for ongoing England series, will make his comeback very soon. India will be touring Australia for and he don’t see staying out of the frame for too long. Harbhajan is a experinced campaigner and a player like him will boost the entire team confidence and it is difficult to believe India will be without Harbhajan services in the tough tour against Australia this winter.

Finally, Ganguly praised the performance of the youngsters in the Indian team. The young blood of Team India is doing consistently well in the absences of senior players and insisted that it is time for young legs to chip in now. He quoted that senior players like Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag will be there to guide the young guns, it was high time the youngsters learnt to shoulder responsibility.

Virat Kohli completes 1000 runs in a Calendar Year!

The young Indian middle-order batsmen Virat Kohli has scored his 7th ODI century against England in 2nd one-day match at Delhi. Thereby, Kohli has completed 1000 runs in a Calendar year of 2011. Virat Kohli felt 5 runs short of 1000 runs in a calendar year in 2010, where he scored 995 runs.

Virat Kohli has been in great form in this year, when compared to the earlier stages of his career. Earlier Kohli used to get fifties but failed to convert them into big centuries. Now, he is a matured cricketer, playing according to the conditions and game plan of the team. As he is capitalizing the starts to convert them into match winning knocks.

The Delhi lad, Virat Kohli joins Shane Watson of Australia and Jonathan Trott from England, who scored 1000 runs in a calendar year of 2011. Sachin Tendulkar has scored 1000 runs seven times which is most by any batsmen and followed by his former teammate Sourav Ganguly 6 times and Australia’s two-time World Cup winning captain got there 6 times.

Right-handed batsmen, Virat Kholi is the 28th occasion of Indian batsmen to achieve these feet, while iconic batsmen Sachin Tendulkar achieved this feet 7 times and this is most by any batsmen in the World. Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly got to 1000 runs in a calendar year 6 times. The Wall Rahul Dravid and current Indian skipper MS Dhoni did it thrice, while M Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja and Virender Sehwag scored 1000 runs twice. Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and now Virat Kholi completed the list of batsmen scoring 1000 runs.

Sourav Ganguly: seniors should take call on retirement

Sourav Ganguly, India's most successful Test skipper says the time is not right for senior players to retire and selectors should not force them to quit the game.

Sourav says that senior players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman should decide on their retirement on their own while coming to quit the game. The day their performance drops, they will leave on the field, and there is no need to pressurize them.

The former skipper said that Indian greats like Dravid and Laxman have already phased out from ODI cricket. Sachin also plays very less ODI’s these days. Now It is good to see youngsters perform so well in the shorter format but he is really more worried about Tests. Ganguly said that the nation hasn’t seen anyone who can fill these big shoes and challenge these seniors. He also added that definitely, the time hasn't come to phase out seniors in Tests.

who will ablt fill big shoes of Sachin & Dravid?

However, India’s finest all-rounder ever Kapil Dev, felt selectors should take the decision and proposed an orderly phase out of the seniors. The 1983 World Cup winning captain said that all three seniors Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and V V S Laxman should not play together. As one of them will be  rested and two of them will be playing so that a youngster can be tested in his place. Kapil said that this rotation method of players will help Team India to find out a youngster who can meet these greats.

Everyone knows that it is not going to be easy job to find replacements for the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman. Meanwhile, Madan Lal said that there was lack work ethics in the current young players.  They have to raise their fitness levels. Players like Kohli, Pujara and Rohit will have to be given chances. Suresh had plenty of chances thrown at him and it’s now time for Yuvi to prove he belongs to Test arena.

Sourav Ganguly: Passion to play cricket is still there

Sourav Ganguly, former Indian Captain says that his passion towards game is still there and he ha can play for few more years. The Kolkata batsmen said he will be ready and fit for upcoming Indian Premiere League fifth edition (IPL-5).

Ganguly: passion is still there to play

The left handed opening batsmen is one of the finest players of his era and India’s successful captains before he announced his retirement in 2008, during Australia tour of India, where won the series. However, the sportsmanship of Dhoni is admirable as he asked Ganguly to lead the team before clinching the series.

During an interview Ganguly was asked about playing in the fifth edition of the IPL, he said yes the passion to play cricket is still there. IPL is a domestic league and he still have a couple of years of cricket left in him. Dada added that he will be ready for the tournament and also hoping to play domestic cricket to get in shape before that IPL 5 kick off.

The player has been actively involved since the commencement of one of Cricket’s most lucrative tournaments, representing his city, Kolkata, under the franchise, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), owned by the Bollywood’s mega star, Shah Rukh Khan.

Sourav Ganguly represented Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in first three editions, he led the side in the first season in 2008, and later Brendon McCullum took over the captaincy in the second edition. However, 39-year-old was contracted to a new franchise, Pune under India’s’ promising batsmen Yuvraj Singh. Ganguly played 40 matches for KKR and scored more than 100 runs.