RAVICHANDRAN ASHWIN BREAKS INDIAN RECORD FOR MOST MAN OF THE SERIES AWARDS IN TEST CRICKET.

Ravichandran Ashwin breaks Indian record for most Man of the Series awards in Test cricket.

The fourth Test between India and West Indies at the Queen’s Park Oval might not have
turned out to be the ideal finale as far as Indian cricket fans were concerned with only
22 overs of play possible over the entire duration of five days. Despite rains only causing
havoc for a brief period of time, the poor drainage conditions at the venue meant the
viewers were left distraught as no play for possible since Lunch on Day 1. 

India’s failure to beat West Indies, for no fault of their own may I add, also meant that
 Virat Kohli’s side had to relinquish the No.1 Test team ranking they had achieved
recently after their victories at Antigua and St Kitts coupled with Australia being
whitewashed 3-0 by Sri Lanka. The top spot now belongs to India’s arch-rivals Pakistan
who have achieved the No.1 ranking for the first time ever since the rankings were
introduced in 2003. 

The disappointing climax should not take anything away from what has been a splendid
series for India with Anil Kumble’s first assignment as India’s head coach proving be a
big success. Kohli’s aggressive captaincy paid dividends with Ravichandran Ashwin
benefitting the most, though not as many predicted ahead of the series with the ball,
but with the bat instead.
As expected, Ashwin ended up as the leading wicket-taker in the four-match series
with 17 wickets while more surprisingly, he finished in the fourth spot of highest run-getters
in the series with 235 runs – only 16 runs behind the top-ranked Kohli. So it was no surprise
that Ashwin bagged the Man of the Series and by collecting his sixth such award, the
29-year-old who has just played 36 Tests, went past Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag
as the Indian cricketer with the most number of Man of the Series awards.

So it was no surprise that Ashwin bagged the Man of the Series and by collecting his sixth such award, the 29-year-old who has just played 36 Tests, went past Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag as the Indian cricketer with the most number of Man of the Series awards.While he may not be that effective in the shorter formats of the game, Ashwin is proving time and again that he is India’s biggest match-winner in Test cricket. He is on a roll having secured Man of the Series victories in India’s previous three Test series – against Sri Lanka, South Africa and now West Indies.

While he may not be that effective in the shorter formats of the game, Ashwin is proving time and again that he is India’s biggest match-winner in Test cricket. He is on a roll having secured Man of the Series victories in India’s previous three Test series – against Sri Lanka, South Africa and now West Indies. 

With a packed Test schedule awaiting India at home, only a brave man would bet against Ashwin adding to his collection and inch closer to Sri Lankan legend Muttiah Muralitharan's world record of 11 Man of the Series awards.

ALASTAIR COOK on Monday became the first England cricketer to cross the 10,000-run mark in Test cricket, and the youngest overall, beating Sachin Tendulkar's record set in 2005 by five months at the age of 31 years, five months. Tendulkar - Test cricket's leading run-scorer - was 31 years, ten months 20 days old when he scored his 10,000th run in 2005.

England captain Cook, already his country's leading Test run-scorer, came into the ongoing second Test against Sri Lanka at Chester-le-Street just 20 runs away from becoming the first Englishman to join the coveted 10k club. Cook was dismissed for 15 runs in the first innings and the landmark came in post-lunch session of the fourth day in the second over of the second innings when he flicked  a NUWAN PRADEEP delivery to mid wicket for four.

England captain Cook, already his country's leading Test run-scorer, came into the ongoing second Test against Sri Lanka at Chester-le-Street just 20 runs away from becoming the first Englishman to join the coveted 10k club. Cook was dismissed for 15 runs in the first innings and the landmark came in post-lunch session of the fourth day in the second over of the second innings when he flicked  a NUWAN PRADEEP delivery to mid wicket for four.

England captain Cook, already his country's leading Test run-scorer, came into the ongoing second Test against Sri Lanka at Chester-le-Street just 20 runs away from becoming the first Englishman to join the coveted 10k club. Cook was dismissed for 15 runs in the first innings and the landmark came in post-lunch session of the fourth day in the second over of the second innings when he flicked  a NUWAN PRADEEP delivery to mid wicket for four.

Cook is the 12th batsman to get to 10,000 runs in Tests, after Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting , Jacques Kalllis, Rahul dravid  , Kumar Sangakkara , Brian Lara , Shivnarine Chanderpaul , Mahela Jayawardene , Allan Border , Steve Waugh and Sunil Gavaskar. Pakistan's Younis Khan is the next active batsman with a chance at entering the club, having 9116 to his name, and there is a chance he joins Cook with Pakistan playing four Tests in England later this summer.

Cook made his Test debut against India at Nagpur in March 2006 and scored 60 and 104 not out. He grew into the role of opener before taking over the Test captaincy from Andrew Strauss in late 2012. As captain, leading into the Headingley Test, 3751 of Cook's overall runs had come as captain, with ten centuries and 18 half-centuries at an average of 46.88.

HIGHEST WICKET TAKER IN SINGLE ODI

M. Muralitharan (Ind vs. SL 27 Oct 2000) :It was the second innings with India chasing a steep tot al of 295 when Captain Sanath Jayasuriya put the ball in Muralitharan’s hands. India was rocked by two quick dismissals but the ship had been steadied by Little Master Sachin Tendulkar and Robin Singh. 
                      Murli at first seemed a bit out of touch and the Indians decided to take advantage of this. However no sooner was the decision made in the batsman’s mind Murali let out a stunning delivery which foxed him. Robin Singh went in for the attack only to find the ball un-attackable. He ended up giving a simple catch.  Soon even the Little Master failed to read Murali completely and he too fell. What started with the two lead to a total collapse as MuttiahMuralitharan spun a web around the batsmen. He ended the day with an awesome figure of 7 wickets for 30 runs. Muralitharan also features in the top ten wicket takers in test matches.

THE FASTEST CENTURY AND HALF CENTURY'S IN CRICKET WORLD CUPS.

KEVIN O'BRIEN SMASHES THE FASTEST ODI CENTURY

    FASTEST ODI CENTURY is a tougher list to rewrite but world cups have their own significance, with much wider audiences and even fruitful rewards for the batsmen who achieve it. In following, we see what are the fastest individual century (hundred) and half century (fifty) in one day cricket world cups over the years..

Kevin O'Brien holds this prestigious record, off just 50 balls, overtaking from Mathew Hayden by clear margin of 16 balls. In World cup 2015, Glenn Maxwell made a hundred off 51 balls while AB de Villiers reached three figure mark off just 52 balls a week before. Hayden had snatched the record off Jim Davison of Canada.

Kapil Dev of India once held the record of fastest world cup century for a long time, scoring 175 unbeaten that day at Tunbridge which saved Indians a sorry defeat against debutant Zimbabweans when they were five wickets down for almost nothing on board. 

Notice Adam Gilchrist's 72 ball century versus Sri Lanka, which was the final match. Gilchrist hit 8 sixes that day. Virender Sehwag has made fastest Indian hundred in ODI world cup, off 81 balls against Bermuda. Also see presence of Sunl Gavaskar who once batted for all 60 overs in a world cup match making just 36 runs and but retired with one of the fastest century as well.

Rohit Sharma 264Runs vs SRILANKA.

                       

               

Rohit Sharma's first ODI in 10-weeks began with a touch of nerves. He was even kept scoreless in one Angelo Mathews maiden. By the end of the innings, his batting had become cartoonish. There was no shot he had not played. No part of the ground he had not exploited. No bowler who escaped his brutality. Rohit amassed 45 more runs than any ODI batsman had ever managed in an innings, finishing on 264 from 173 balls when he was finally caught off the last ball of the innings. India, almost incidentally, had moved to 404 for 5, despite having travelled at a run rate of less than six for the first 30 overs.

          Rohit's innings was so ludicrous that the first 100 runs, which were hit at a run-a-ball, seems achingly humdrum in comparison to the 164 that followed. The surge had actually begun before he reached his century, when he plundered 14 runs in four balls, in Nuwan Kulasekara's 30th over. Soon after that, the ball would be leaping off the middle of his bat with almost every stroke he offered.