81st Blog – Wish you a Very Happy Birthday “The Cool Captain”

              Mahendra Singh Dhoni – A name that contains every formula of Leadership and who know how to lead and be calm in worst-est of conditions. His name is now enough to introduce him on the pages of world cricket. He is the most successful Captain and Wicket-Keeper in India ever. Also in the ground he known as Captain Cool and recently as “Iceman”. He was born as in Ranchi on 7 of July 1981. He has done his studies in his home town Ranchi. His father name is Pan Singh Dhoni and mother name is Devki Devi. He has two sibling, one sister and one brother. Presently he is the captain in all forms of Indian International Cricket team (i.e. T-20, One day and Test)

           In just 4 years of captaincy, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has emerged as one of India's most successful captain, this cricket crazy country has seen. The captain cool has led the team to many first under his captaincy. He led Team India to No. 1 in the ICC Test Rankings for the first time in December 2009 and also closed the gap with Australia in one days after winning the coveted 2011 Cricket World Cup. He started his captaincy career with the shortest format of the game and immediately led an inexperienced India Twenty20 squad to the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 victory in South Africa in September 2007. Soon after returning victorious in the World Twenty20, he was made the India's one-day international captain for the seven-match ODI series against Australia in September 2007. After serving the team as vice-captain for a while, Dhoni was made full-time Test captain of India during the fourth Test against Australia at Nagpur in November 2008 replacing Anil Kumble, who announced his retirement after the third Test. He made his mark in the international cricket soon after his ODI debut in December 2004 against Bangladesh. He scored a match-winning 148 against Pakistan in Visakhapatnam off 123 balls in his fifth ODI and announced his arrival in the international arena. Dhoni made his Test debut against Sri Lanka in December 2005. Similar to his one-day career, he slammed his maiden century (148) against Pakistan in 2006. His maiden ton came off 93 balls and is the fastest hundred scored by an Indian wicket-keeper. By winning the Hyderabad Test against Australia on Tuesday by an innings and 135 runs, Mahindra Singh Dhoni surpassed Sourav Ganguly as India's most successful Test captain.

           Dhoni has 29 Test wins, one more than Ganguly who held the record previously. To add to this record figure Dhoni also has the T20 World Cup win in 2007 and the ICC ODI World Cup win in 2011 under his belt as a testament to his success as a captain who has lead his troops in all formats of the game. Recently he was also the captain of team who won the prestigious ICC Champions Trophy. After winning ICC Championship trophy, Dhoni became the first Caption who won all the Major title as a caption and this achievement is remarkable. It can be rightly said that Sourav Ganguly did the bulk of the hard work to build Team India, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble added the much-needed boost to the growth process. Dhoni also did his share of the work; the result is the success that India has enjoyed in the last decade.

           “All Indian will never forget your contribution of an Inning and Last Six in the Final Match of 2011 Cricket World Cup. Thanks to giving us an opportunity to celebrate the throne of World Cricket after 28 long Years.”

           Wish you a Little belated Happy Birthday “The Cool Caption”. Almighty give him a good health, luck and a prosperous life.

Regards

Dhitendra

Keep Smiling :-)

80th Blog – Wish you a Very Happy Birthday “The Warrior Prince”.

          There were few Modern cricketer who had contributed too much in cricket history as later across the world they all are titled as Legend and the contribution was too high, that it seems impossible to be repeated again. For me the legends are Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Brian Lara, Steve Waugh, VVS Laxman, Ricky Ponting and Gary Kirsten.

          When we come to talk about Sourav Ganguly he is truly one of the finest captain of Indian Cricket Team, an iconic image in the history of cricket and a forever hardline spirited man and a born leader. And today the iconic figure of Bengal is celebrating his 41^st Birthday. The left–handed batting master was born on 8^th July in the year 1972 in Kolkata, West Bengal. He is famously called as “Dada” that means “Elder Brother”, “The Bengal Tiger”, “God of Off Side”, “Prince of Kolkata” and also famed to be most courageous captain of Indian Team. 

 

          A Man who took off his shirt at the balcony of Lords to celebrate India’s win during the final of Natwest Series in 2002 in England.

          As Steve Waugh once famously said that he saw in Sourav a committed individual who wanted to inject some toughness and combativeness into a side that had often tended in the past to roll over and expose a soft underbelly.

          He was arguably one of the best left-hand batsmen India has ever and famed as the “God of Off Side”. He was too much skilled to play off-side deliveries as the legendary batsmen was famously described by Rahul Dravid as "Next to God on the off-side." A creative force often termed as a rebel, a man layered with many characters and always in the thick of things. He was probably one of those very few men who took the field and evoked mixed emotions. A career spanning more than sixteen years was full of disasters and rescues, and comebacks and mistakes and memorable moments. Ganguly was fun, just the kind of energy he brought to a cricket field, the passion with which he played the game of cricket and his willingness to take on the best is what separates him from the rest.

 

          With Sachin Tendulkar, Ganguly formed one of the most destructive opening pairs in ODI cricket history and became the second Indian to cross the 10000-run mark in ODIs. Every fast bowler worth his salt tried to knock off his head with short balls and bouncers at some point of their career but his elegance and grace on the off-side is beyond question. Throughout his career he has flirted with danger, played with his fate, tempting it to turn its back on him and just when his critics wrote him off he would surprise everybody by making a comeback. Only he probably knows how to write his own scripts.

          With a record of 21 Test wins, Ganguly stood on top of the record books for eight years before Dhoni overtook him. The stark difference between the two captaincy has to be that Sourav Ganguly was given a team that needed to be molded and built, he took over at a time when VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Harbhajan Singh were not the power houses that they were when Dhoni was captain. Also, Sachin Tendulkar was going through a lean patch at that time.

          He may have quit international cricket for three years now but the love and affection Sourav Ganguly that received still is enviable. Almost three years have passed, but public’s love and affection for this cricketing legend has not faded away even a little. 

 

It was only his hard work to build Team India and became a formidable force under his leadership. It was under his able leadership that India managed to shed the tag of 'tigers at home and lambs abroad'. His contribution to Indian cricket is immense and will forever be remembered as the man who changed the face of Indian cricket.

          SAURAV WAS, IS AND SHALL BE THE BEST LEFT HANDED BATSMAN AND CAPTAIN INDIA EVER HAD.

          Love Him or Hate Him, But you Have to Respect Him.

          Wish you a Very Happy Birthday “The Warrior Prince”. Almighty give him a good health, luck and a prosperous life.

Regards

Dhitendra

Keep Smiling :-)