Virat Kohli is the man of the day!

He is making his debut as a test-captain on the Indian soil and it is not going to be an easy beginning. He doesn’t need to prove his credential to anyone what with coming from behind and snatching victory in Sri Lanka and showcasing his master skills.

However, in India it is going to be different and that too against South Africa, a team that is in its full elements!

There was a time when India was really strong in its own backyard at least, with players like Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, VVS Lakshman, Anil Kumble and Virender Sehwag ruling the roost and ensuring that no one was able to defeat us in India.

Things have changed now. The senior most player of the current lot, M.S.Dhoni, like others, has also retired from the longer format of the game and there is no one experienced enough in the time to guide the younger lot. Virat knows it very well that he will have to lead from the front and that’s where his challenge lies. Openers like Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, and Cheteshwar Pujara are still not settled and despite being powerhouse of talent, each one of them is still miles away from being consistent in their performances.

On their good day, they can beat the best teams of the world single-handedly, but that one “good day” comes rarely!

On top of it, our bowling unit is still not fully functional. Either our pacers are going after pace or trying to maintain right line and length. Either they try to stop runs or they try to take wickets. There is no perfect balance and no leading senior bowler, who can really come forward, take the onus of producing results and inspire juniors in the team!

In this backdrop, the test series with South Africa looks really difficult and very challenging as the visitors are very well settled and having enormous talent amidst their ranks to create chaos for us. While Indian team is still looking to find the right combination of batsmen as well as bowlers, the visitors are looking sure of their strategy on how to contain India and give us a knocking punch!

Virat knows it all, but the question is whether he is ready to take the bull by its horns or are we going to just see a lot of experimentation without productive results?

Let’s hope our youngsters come out all guns blazing and prove their mettle! When fighting against the best, one’s best comes out!

Here’s hoping that Virat is able to bring out not only his, but his teammates’ best as well and come out victorious!

Good luck boys!

The post Virat Kohli Knew It Coming, But Is He Ready? appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

Indian cricket once boasted of star players like Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Javagal Srinath.

These were players who were regularly seen in every match and kept on performing for the team whether it was one-days or the test matches. However, with time they have all retired except for Bhajji who has been dropped and selected as part of the team quite frequently.

Now if you talk of today’s team, except for M.S.Dhoni or Virat Kohli, no player is a regular feature in any of the matches. New players or even a bit experienced ones keep walking in and out of the team as if they are visiting a railway station waiting room without any purpose! Whether it is Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane or even Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and Ishant Sharma!

All of them are not new to the Indian cricket team, but none of them have given such stupendous performances on a regular basis that they can be considered permanent position holders in the team. Each one of them performs in few matches and then loses their form faster than we can change our clothes! Or worst, they get injured and are forced out of the team!

What is the reason for this?

Does it have to do anything with talent?

Or is it excessive playing that is taking its toll on them?

As far as talent I concerned, all these players are world class and have proven their mettle from time to time in the international arena. Some of them have shown what kind of potential they have to be world class players who can keep on playing for years to come. However, the pressure of playing in three different formats, which is the one-day cricket, test matches and T20, is proving to be too huge for them. May be the youngsters are not getting the right coaching and right direction about how to manage their body, mind and attitude to adjust to frequently changing conditions of world sports.

It is important for players to understand that it is not going to be easy to perform consistently if they don’t give rest to their body. Most of the players, if not playing for the country, are busy playing in the IPL or busy with their endorsements or partying and enjoying their life. If one can maintain the balance between all three, the way a Sachin Tendulkar did or Virat Kohli and Dhoni does, then go ahead and make the most of your life.

But not everyone is gifted or possesses such fine-balancing qualities.

For such players, it is important to keep country’s interests first so that they can have a long innings as a player in the Indian cricket team. Or else, there are enough players to replace them!

It is high time we see some regular players playing for the country as it gives confidence to the team itself while bringing stability in the dressing team. A strongly knit consistent team has more chances of winning matches instead of different men joining hands in different matches without having a strong bond!

The post Why Is Indian Cricket Team Looking Like A Railway Station Waiting Room? appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

The ill-timed lonesome test match is over and all the excitement is shifted to the three one-dayers to be played between India and Bangladesh. Excited?

Looking forward to some interesting cricket since the minnows (read: Bangladesh) have grown up and becoming a challenge in the local neighbourhood?

Well, next few days will prove how big a challenge they are if challenge is the right word to be used in their context, that is! What’s more interesting is that there are some surprises in store and the best surprise is that this India Bangladesh series will not benefit India at all!

Let’s share how this did happen:

1) Right now India is place at the second place and the gap between leading side Australia and India is quite huge. Therefore even a 3-0 win over Bangladesh will not help India to reach the top of the charts!

2) On the other hand, even if Bangladesh loses the series 2-1, they would still qualify to participate in the 2017 Champions Trophy from June 1-19 in England and Wales! Only way they can lose out on the chance is if they lose 3-0 and lag behind West Indies with both the teams tied at 88 points, but the Caribbean team leading on the eight spot!

3) For India, a 2-1 loss would mean we equal the points with New Zealand but still lie under them given how excitingly they are playing against England right now!

4) While Virat Kohli is on fourth spot on the list of best batsmen, Shikhar Dhawan is at 7^th spot and M.S. Dhoni is at 9^th spot!

5) Coming to Dhoni, this will really test his equation with Virat Kohli. After taking over test captaincy and right during the test match conference, Virat gave a statement that the era of learning is over and it is time to play to win the test matches! This is stark opposite to what Dhoni has been saying for all these years about learning from every game and taking home the lessons to prepare for next game.

Virat’s aggressive attitude and change in body language was clearly visible during the match and his approach towards the game might come across as contradictory to Dhoni’s style of captaincy! Can they work on it or will it create internal secret feuds?

There can be many more surprises going into the game, but we really hope that things remain smooth and beneficial for the ultimate benefit of the game.

Let the best team win. However, we really wished if this series mattered to India more than it matters to Bangladesh!

No ways we are saying that the team should be taken lightly, but then our cricketing heroes got to play some difficult teams to come out shining rather than taming the minnows!

Let the game begin and with that, the fun!

The post Some Surprising Truths of Upcoming India Bangladesh One-Day Cricket Series! appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

After Australia’s big win in the finals of Cricket World Cup, ICC, the next day announced the team of ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 with Brendon McCullum as its captain.

Inclusion of no Indian player in the team has become a subject of debate. Despite Mohammed Shami’s amazing performance in the tournament, he was not included in the team.

The same goes with Umesh Yadav and Sikhar Dhawan.

However, West Indian Cricket legend Brian Lara, in his World Cup XI, included 3 Indian players.

Let us take a look at the ICC World Cup XI.

International Cricket Council

1. Brendon McCullum (New Zealand) (captain)

2. Martin Guptill (New Zealand)

3. Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) (wicketkeeper)

4. Steven Smith (Australia)

5. AB de Villiers (South Africa)

6. Glenn Maxwell (Australia)

7. Corey Anderson (New Zealand)

8. Daniel Vettori (New Zealand)

9. Mitchell Starc (Australia)

10. Trent Boult (New Zealand)

11. Morne Morkel (South Africa)

Brendan Taylor (Zimbabwe) (12th man)

Now let us take a look at Brian Lara’s World Cup XI

Brian Lara

1. Brendon McCullum (New Zealand)

2. Shikhar Dhawan (India)

3. Virat Kohli (India)

4. Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)

5. AB de Villiers (South Africa)

6. Steven Smith (Australia)

7. Glenn Maxwell (Australia)

8. Mitchell Starc (Australia)

9. Mohammed Shami (India)

10. Trent Boult (New Zealand)

11. Imran Tahir (South Africa)

The absence of Indian players from the ICC World Cup XI has become a matter of great concern all over the nation but getting in Brian Lara’s World Cup XI is not easy at all!
So what do you think? Is ICC’s team better or the inclusion of 3 Indian players makes Lara’s team a special one?

The post Brian Lara Announces His World Cup XI Squad, 3 Indian Players Included appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

JUST IN:
Gilette sales drop after Shikhar Dhawan scores 100. #IndvsSA #SAvsIND

— Ashwin S Kumar (@ashwinskumar) February 22, 2015

Nationwide campaign of Gillette ‘Will You Shave’ that encouraged men across to shave has definitely got the perfect face palm moment with girls across the country going weak on their knees for Shikhar Dhawan.

ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 #IndvsSA

Shikhar Dhawan’s stunning 137 (146) helped India put on the score of 307 runs that the Proteas couldn’t chase.

India won by 130 runs.

When Dhawan scored his century, fans across the country went crazy talking about his style, attitude and of course his moustache.

If you talk about Dhawan’s personality, you simply can’t imagine him without his moustache.

Dhawan resembles the notion from our old Hindi films where moustache was considered as the ultimate style quotient for men.

They had even stereotyped thinking of “Mooche Mard Ki Nishani Hai”. Not that if you shave you would become less manly but a man with a moustache was considered to have a great personality.

This notion was beautifully explored in the old Hindi film, ‘Gol Maal’. This scene from the movie has the dialogue, “Moustache is the mirror of human soul and mind.” This dialogue was a huge hit.

The film stars Amol Palekar caught in between the dilemma of moustache.

The character of Bhawani Sankar played by Utpal Dutt believes that moustache defines the character of a man.

Over the years shaving brands along with their campaigns changed this concept but thanks to Dhawan, the style of donning a moustache is back.

Oh yes and we are totally drooling over the flamboyant way in which Shikhar Dhawan twirls his moochi (moustache).

Dhawan Twirls his MOOCH

He smashed 2 sixes and 16 fours at a strike rate of 93.83 in his spectacular innings of 137 runs.

Dhawan inns

He was dismissed in Parnell’s over caught by Hashim Amla.

Did you notice the number of times he twirled his moustache in yesterday’s match?

Well the moustache trend seems to have begun:

Deepak

Durgesh

The post Shikhar Dhawan’s Moustache Is Sharper Than Gillette’s Blade!! appeared first on Youngisthan.in.