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Friday, February 23, 2007
World Cup 2007 - Review of Cricket Teams - India
Posted by sophi

Cricket World Cup 2007 - Review of Cricket Teams - India

About Indian Cricket

The British brought cricket to India in the early 1700s, with the first cricket match being played in 1721.In 1848, the Parsi community in Mumbai formed the Oriental Cricket Club, the first cricket club to be established by Indians. After slow beginnings, the Parsis were eventually invited by the Europeans to play a match in 1877. By 1912, the Parsis, Hindus, and Muslims of Bombay played a quadrangular tournament with the Europeans every year.Debuting in Test cricket at Lord's, England on 25 June 1932, the Indian cricket team became the sixth Test playing team. For nearly fifty years, India was weaker than most of the other Test cricket teams, such as Australia and England, winning only 35 of the 196 matches it played during this period.The Indian cricket team is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the cricket governing body in India. The Indian Cricket Team is currently the highest paid sports team in the world (in terms of sponsorship). The current Indian Cricket Team is one of the strongest and most challenging cricket teams in the world, rated at par with teams like Australia, South Africa, England and Pakistan

Cricket is the de facto national sport of India and has a very wide following among the population of India. Due to large Indian diaspora, a large Indian fan turnout is expected whenever and wherever India plays. There have been a number of official fan groups that have been formed over the years, including the Swami Army or Bharat Army, the Indian equivalent of the Barmy Army, that were very active in their support when India toured Australia in 2003/2004. They are known to attribute a number of popular Indian songs to the cricket team. The downsides to having such a cricket-loving population is people hold cricket very close to their hearts and losses are not received well by the Indian population.

Indian Cricket team Records

	P	W	L	T	NR	%	HS	LS	MC	LC	BatAv	BowAv	R/6b	C/6b
ODIs	643	303	310	3	27	49%	376	54	359	65	31.0	30.2	4.77	4.75
WC	55	31	23	0	1	57%	373	125	359	109	33.0	27.6	4.73	4.37

Indian Cricket team Squad

Batsmen: Rahul Dravid (captain), Sachin Tendulkar (vice-captain), Sourav Ganguly, Robin Uthappa, Yuvraj Singh.
All-rounders: Virender Sehwag, Irfan Pathan.
Wicketkeepers: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik.
Bowlers: Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel.

The Indian team for 2007 World Cup has the right mixture of experience and fresh blood. The famed Indian batting will come for stern test this World Cup, with the three big guns in their full flow. The West Indian pitches will also be a bit difficult for Indians. With Sehwag not in great form, Utthappa being a fresh blood, Sachin,Sourav and Dravid along with Yuvaraj will hve to take the responsibility of the batting. Their greatest strength lies in their ability to push them to their best if they want to.The chances though would depend on how the Indian bowlers will be able to contain the opposition teams, keep their line and length and be consistent. With the team having the advantage of 3 part time spinners, the team always the luxury to pick an extra batsman. The Indian fielding is the biggest threat which the team faces. With one exceptional fielder and a few good ones, they would be hoping that the others also come up to scratch. With Bermuda and Bangladesh in their group and just beating Sri Lanka at home should giving them a huge boost to their confidence.

India at World Cup

The India Cricket Team has participated in all the ICC Cricket World Cups since 1975. India won the 1983 World Cup, beating the then World Champions West Indies in a low socring final match. The team reached to the World Cup semi-finals in 1987 and 1996, and were runners-up in the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup in South Africa. The India cricket team has been rated as one of the favorite contenders to lift the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 in the West Indies. If the players can perform to their potential, there can be nothing which can stop the Indian team to lift the cup again.