Hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a positive feat three times in a game, or another achievement based on the number three. The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson's taking three wickets with three consecutive deliveries. Fans held a collection for Stephenson, presented him with a hat bought with the proceeds; the term was used in print for the first time in 1865. The term was adopted by many other sports including hockey, association football, water polo, team handball. A hat-trick occurs in association football when a player scores three goals in a single game, whereas scoring two goals constitutes a brace. In common with other official record-keeping rules, penalty-kick goals are counted but goals in a penalty shootout are excluded from the tally; the extra time in a knockout cup match may be calculated towards a player's potential hat-trick. The fastest recorded time to score a hat-trick is 70 seconds, a record set by Alex Torr in a Sunday league game in 2013.
The previous record of 90 seconds was held by Tommy Ross playing for Ross County against Nairn County on 28 November 1964. The first hat-trick in an international game was by Scottish player John McDougall, against England on 2 March 1878. American player Bert Patenaude scored the first hat-trick in the FIFA World Cup, against Paraguay in the inaugural event. Two hat-tricks have been scored in a World Cup final, by Geoff Hurst for England in the 1966 final during extra time against West Germany, Carli Lloyd for the USA against Japan in the 2015 Women's World Cup final. Lloyd's was the fastest hat-trick scored in a World Cup final at 13 minutes from first to last goal, at 16 minutes the fastest from kickoff in any World Cup match for either sex. However, the fastest World Cup hat-trick for either men or women, as measured by time between goals, belongs to Fabienne Humm of Switzerland, who scored in the 47th, 49th and 52nd minutes against Ecuador in the 2015 group stage. Football has extended the term to include the phrase perfect hat-trick, achieved when a player scores one right-footed goal, one left-footed goal and one headed goal within one match.
In Germany and Austria, the term Hattrick refers to when a player scores three goals in a row in one half without the half-time break or a goal scored by another player interrupting the performance. Traditionally, a player who scores a hat-trick is allowed to keep the match ball as a memento. In the past, the term was used to describe when a player struck out three times in a baseball game, the term golden sombrero was more used when a player struck out four times in a game. In recent years, hat trick has been more used to describe when a player hits three home runs in a game. For example, on 29 August 2015, Toronto Blue Jays fans celebrated Edwin Encarnación's third home run of the game by throwing hats onto the field, similar to the tradition in ice hockey; the phenomenon continued during the 2016 season, on 17 June 2016, a number of Blue Jays fans at Oriole Park at Camden Yards threw hats on to the field after Toronto Blue Jays player Michael Saunders hit his third home run of the night, again on 28 August at Rogers Centre, when Blue Jays player Josh Donaldson hitting his third home run of the game in the eighth inning against the Minnesota Twins.
A hat-trick occurs in cricket. The deliveries may be interrupted by an over bowled by another bowler from the other end of the pitch or the other team's innings, but must be three consecutive deliveries by the individual bowler in the same match. Only wickets attributed to the bowler count towards a hat-trick. Hat-tricks are rare, as such are treasured by bowlers. In Test cricket history there have been just 43 hat-tricks, the first achieved by Fred Spofforth for Australia against England in 1879. In 1912, Australian Jimmy Matthews achieved the feat twice in one game against South Africa; the only other players to achieve two hat-tricks are Australia's Hugh Trumble, against England in 1902 and 1904, Pakistan's Wasim Akram, in separate games against Sri Lanka in 1999, England's Stuart Broad. In One Day International cricket there have been 36 hat-tricks, the first by Jalal-ud-Din for Pakistan against Australia in 1982, the most recent by Trent Boult. Lasith Malinga is the only bowler to take three hat-tricks in any form of international cricket with his three in ODI.
Three players have taken at least two ODI hat-tricks in their careers: Wasim Akram and Saqlain Mushtaq of Pakistan and Chaminda Vaas of Sri Lanka.. Taking two wickets in two consecutive deliveries is known as a brace, or being on a hat-trick; the feat of taking four wickets in four balls has occurred only once in international one-day cricket, in the 2007 World Cup, when Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga managed the feat against South Africa by dismissing Shaun Pollock, Andrew Hall, Jacques Kallis and Makhaya Ntini, though it has occurred on other occasions in first-class cricket. Kevan James of Hampshire took four wickets in four balls and scored a century in the same county game against India in 1996; the Cricinfo report on the game claimed. Nuwan Zoysa of Sri Lanka is the only bowler to achieve a hat-trick off his first three balls in a Test, dismissing Murray Goodwin, Neil Johnson and Trevor Gripper of Zimbabwe. In 2006 Irfan Pathan of India achieved a hat-trick in the first over of the test match, off the last three balls, when dismissing Salman Butt, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf of Pakistan.
Chaminda Vaas is the only o
Mohammad Azharuddin
Mohammad Azharuddin is an Indian politician and former cricketer. He was renowned as an elegant middle-order batsman and captain of the Indian cricket team in 47 tests during the 1990s, his international playing career came to a controversial end when he was implicated in the infamous match-fixing scandal in 2000 and subsequently banned by the BCCI for life. In 2012, the Andhra Pradesh High Court declared the life ban illegal. A division bench of the high court set aside the order of the City Civil Court, which had upheld the ban after Azharuddin had challenged it, but by he was 49 years old and too old to get back on the pitch. He said he was happy the issue was over and done with, he would not be taking any further legal action: "It was a long drawn out legal case and it was painful. We fought in the court for 11 years; the verdict has come and I am happy that the ban has been lifted by the court. In 1998,Azharuddin became the highest run-getter in One-Day International cricket and held the distinction for a short time.
"I am not going to take any legal action against any authority and I don't want to blame anybody for this also. Whatever had to happen has happened. I don't have any complaint." In 2009, Azharuddin was elected as a member of the Parliament from Moradabad constituency on an Indian National Congress party ticket. Azharuddin was born in Hyderabad to Yousuf Sultana, he attended All Saints High School and graduated from Nizam College, Osmania University with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. Few cricketers in India would have experienced the lows of life like Azharuddin. Born in the Nizam town of Hyderabad in the state of Andhra Pradesh, Azhar boasted of prodigious talent with the bat and was world renowned for his wristy strokes on the leg side, much like legends like Zaheer Abbas, Greg Chappell and Vishwanath; those who saw this supreme batting artist at his peak will never forget him - sinewy wrists transforming a slender piece of willow into a magician's wand. Azharuddin made his debut for the Indian cricket team in Test cricket in 1984 against England at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on 31 December 1984 and hit three centuries in his first three matches, a feat that has never been matched, Three years after he made his first-class debut for Hyderabad.
Azhar was heralded as a batting genius and this opinion grew stronger when he thumped his way to an aggressive 121 against England at Lord's in 1990. This was the Test where Gooch had pummeled the Indian bowlers all over to bring up his 333 and India were faced with the prospect of a follow on when Azhar came in to bat at number five. Against a quality bowling attack, he brought up his hundred off just 88 balls in a losing cause. Former England cricketer Vic Marks called it "the most dazzling Test century" he had witnessed, in his column in the Observer. Predominantly a middle order batsman, Azharuddin was known for his attacking brand of cricket irrespective of the situation of the game and his superb catching in the slip cordon and outfield. Indeed, at the time of his forced retirement, he was arguably India's best fielder at the age of 37. Although his technique against the short ball was a bit dodgy, he resorted to instinctive stroke-play to counter it. Azharuddin scored a total of 22 centuries in test cricket, at an average of 45 and seven in ODIs at an average of 37.
As a fielder, he took 156 catches in ODI cricket. He played, he was the first player to play in 300 ODIs. Till date, Azharuddin is the only cricketer with the distinction of scoring a century in each of his first three Tests, he did this in his debut series against England. Azhar started his career with a 110 against England in Kolkata in 1984 and ended with a 102 against South Africa in Banglaore in 2000 thus, becoming the only Indian and the fifth batsman to score a century in his first and last Test matches. Azharuddin scored a record-equalling century for an India player in the Second Test at Calcutta during South Africa's India tour in 1996–97. In reply to South Africa's first innings score of 428, Azharuddin brought up his century off 74 deliveries, equalling Kapil Dev's record for the fastest Test century by an India player and fourth overall, in terms of balls faced. Resuming batting on day three on the fall of Javagal Srinath's wicket after retiring hurt the previous evening, Azharuddin reached 50 in 35 balls the second fastest for India and scored 91 runs in the first session of play.
He struck a 161-run partnership with a Anil Kumble for the eighth wicket, another India national record, "hooking and pulling" while dealing with his "weakness against the short-pitched delivery". He attacked Lance Klusener scoring 20 runs off his 14th over, it was his fourth century at 15th overall. However, India was handed one of its biggest defeats despite another attacking innings by Azharuddin in the fourth innings. Azharuddin followed this up with a second-innings century in the next Test the last, of the series, he made an unbeaten 163 and helped his team record their hitherto biggest win in Test history in terms of runs. He was named the man of the match, the series, he aggregated 388 runs for the series at 77.60. Azharuddin became the captain of the Indian team succeeding Krishnamachari Srikkanth in 1989, he led the Indian team in 174 One Day Internationals. He led the team to victory in 90 ODIs, the highest until surpassed by M. S. Dhoni on 2 September 2014, his 14 test match wins as captain was a record until it was beaten by Sourav Ganguly, who has 21 test match wins to his name.
Azharuddin was accused of alleged match-fixing in the match-fixing scandal in 2000. The CBI report states that Azhar was the one to introduce S
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Syed Inzamam-ul-Haq known as Inzi, is a former Pakistani cricketer, former captain. Regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, Inzamam is the leading run scorer for Pakistan in one-day internationals, the third-highest run scorer for Pakistan in Test cricket, he is the only Pakistani batsman to score 20,000 runs in international cricket arena. He was the captain of the Pakistan national cricket team from 2003–07 and is considered to be one of the best leaders in Pakistan Cricket history. Being a profilic Batsman himself, he occasionally bowls gentle left-arm spin and has a unique record of picking a wicket off one’s first ball in career and that too of Lara. Inzamam rose to fame in the semi-final of the 1992 Cricket World Cup, he remained one of the team's leading batsmen throughout the decade in both Test and ODI cricket. In 2003, he was appointed captain of the team, his tenure as captain ended after Pakistan's early exit from the 2007 Cricket World Cup. Inzamam retired from international cricket in 2007, following the second Test match against South Africa, falling three runs short of Javed Miandad as Pakistan's leading run scorer in Test cricket at the time.
Following his retirement, he joined the Indian Cricket League, captaining the Hyderabad Heroes in the inaugural edition of the Twenty20 competition. In the ICL's second edition, he captained the Lahore Badshahs, a team composed of Pakistani cricketers. Inzamam-ul-Haq is a prominent member of the Tablighi Jamaat, an Islamic missionary organisation, remains an influential personality in Pakistan cricket. In April 2016, he was appointed the chief selector of the Pakistan National Cricket Team, his family moved out from the city of Hansi, nowadays in the modern Indian state of Haryana but part of Punjab, during the Partition. In 2010, Inzamam and Saeed Anwar started a chain of specialty meat shops. In 2017, Inzamam launched Legends of a clothing store in Lahore, his nephew Imam-ul-Haq plays for Pakistan cricket team. Inzamam started his career playing for his hometown club, Multan, in 1985, he went on to represent United Bank Limited, Rawalpindi, National Bank of Pakistan, Water and Power Development Authority in his homeland.
Inzamam made his debut in English county cricket in August 2007 at the age of 37. He joined Yorkshire County Cricket Club as a replacement for Younus Khan who left to play for Pakistan in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, he was disappointing on the whole, making eight on debut at Scarborough's North Marine Road against Warwickshire before making nine and seven in his opening Pro40 games. He failed to transfer his international form into English county. In 2007, Inzamam joined the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League. In the inaugural competition, Inzamam captained the Hyderabad Heroes and scored 141 runs in 5 matches. In the 2008 competition in March, Inzamam captained the Lahore Badshahs, composed of Pakistani cricketers; the move to the ICL had proved to be a controversial one for Inzamam. The Pakistan Cricket Board's stance on players joining unsanctioned leagues meant that he had been banned from playing in any domestic competitions in Pakistan or any involvement with the international team. However, given Inzamam had retired, it was unlikely to have affected him.
It is reported that he was paid Pakistani Rs. 100 million, the highest salary for any player participating in the league along with the likes of Brian Lara. Inzamam made his debut in a home series against West Indies in 1991, made a good start to his career by scoring 20 and 60 runs in two matches against West Indies; this was followed by 48, 60, 101, 117 runs against Sri Lanka. Handpicked by former Pakistan captain Imran Khan for the 1992 Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, 22-year-old Inzamam was unheard of before the tournament. To the surprise of many he was persevered with throughout the tournament, coming in at various positions in the batting line-up, despite not being successful early on, yet it was his performances at the most crucial stage of the competition that made fans and summarisers take note. Inzamam rose to fame in Pakistan's dramatic semi-final against New Zealand at Auckland. With his side in a precarious position, chasing 262 against an impressive New Zealand side, he hit a fiery 60 run innings from just 37 balls to rescue his side and guide them into the final.
The innings was regarded as one of the finest World Cup performances. He hit a massive six in that match, described by David Lloyd as the shot of the tournament. Inzamam made an vital contribution in the final of the World Cup, scoring 42 runs off just 35 balls, helping Pakistan reach a score of 249 after a sluggish start; these innings established Inzamam's billing as a big-game player, although he was unable to replicate his World Cup success in tournaments. Inzamam regard his best least highlighted innings of 90 not out against West Indies when Pakistan won their first ODI in the West Indies on 27 March 1993. In total, Inzamam set a record for scoring the most half centuries in One Day Internationals, 83 – though this is now surpassed by Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis and Kumar Sangakkara, he became the second batsman to score 10,000 runs in One-day Internationals and was named in the ICC World XI for both Tests and One-day Internationals in the 2005 ICC Awards. In his final ODI for Pakistan, playing against Zimbabwe in the 2007 Cricket World Cup, he took three catches whilst fielding, including the last one of the match, ending his One Day career.
Inzamam made his Test debut in 1992 against England at Edgbaston. He had little opportunity to make an impact in that match – he was
Pakistan
Pakistan the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the world’s sixth-most populous country with a population exceeding 212,742,631 people. In area, it is the 33rd-largest country. Pakistan has a 1,046-kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west, Iran to the southwest, China in the far northeast, it is separated narrowly from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor in the northwest, shares a maritime border with Oman. The territory that now constitutes Pakistan was the site of several ancient cultures and intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent; the ancient history involves the Neolithic site of Mehrgarh and the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation, was home to kingdoms ruled by people of different faiths and cultures, including Hindus, Indo-Greeks, Turco-Mongols and Sikhs. The area has been ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, including the Persian Achaemenid Empire, Alexander III of Macedon, the Seleucid Empire, the Indian Maurya Empire, the Gupta Empire, the Arab Umayyad Caliphate, the Delhi Sultanate, the Mongol Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Afghan Durrani Empire, the Sikh Empire and, most the British Empire.
Pakistan is the only country to have been created in the name of Islam. It is an ethnically and linguistically diverse country, with a diverse geography and wildlife. A dominion, Pakistan adopted a constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic. An ethnic civil war and Indian military intervention in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh. In 1973, Pakistan adopted a new constitution which stipulated that all laws are to conform to the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Quran and Sunnah. A regional and middle power, Pakistan has the sixth-largest standing armed forces in the world and is a nuclear power as well as a declared nuclear-weapons state, the second in South Asia and the only nation in the Muslim world to have that status. Pakistan has a semi-industrialised economy with a well-integrated agriculture sector and a growing services sector, it is ranked among the emerging and growth-leading economies of the world, is backed by one of the world's largest and fastest-growing middle class.
Pakistan's political history since independence has been characterized by periods of military rule, political instability and conflicts with India. The country continues to face challenging problems, including overpopulation, poverty and corruption. Pakistan is a member of the UN, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the OIC, the Commonwealth of Nations, the SAARC and the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition; the name Pakistan means "land of the pure" in Urdu and Persian. It alludes to the word pāk meaning pure in Pashto; the suffix ـستان is a Persian word meaning the place of, recalls the synonymous Sanskrit word sthāna स्थान. The name of the country was coined in 1933 as Pakstan by Choudhry Rahmat Ali, a Pakistan Movement activist, who published it in his pamphlet Now or Never, using it as an acronym referring to the names of the five northern regions of British India: Punjab, Kashmir and Baluchistan; the letter i was incorporated to ease pronunciation. Some of the earliest ancient human civilisations in South Asia originated from areas encompassing present-day Pakistan.
The earliest known inhabitants in the region were Soanian during the Lower Paleolithic, of whom stone tools have been found in the Soan Valley of Punjab. The Indus region, which covers most of present day Pakistan, was the site of several successive ancient cultures including the Neolithic Mehrgarh and the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro; the Vedic period was characterised by an Indo-Aryan culture. Multan was an important Hindu pilgrimage centre; the Vedic civilisation flourished in the ancient Gandhāran city of Takṣaśilā, now Taxila in the Punjab, founded around 1000 BCE. Successive ancient empires and kingdoms ruled the region: the Persian Achaemenid Empire, Alexander the Great's empire in 326 BCE and the Maurya Empire, founded by Chandragupta Maurya and extended by Ashoka the Great, until 185 BCE; the Indo-Greek Kingdom founded by Demetrius of Bactria included Gandhara and Punjab and reached its greatest extent under Menander, prospering the Greco-Buddhist culture in the region.
Taxila had one of the earliest universities and centres of higher education in the world, established during the late Vedic period in 6th century BCE. The school consisted of several monasteries without large dormitories or lecture halls where the religious instruction was provided on an individualistic basis; the ancient university was documented by the invading forces of Alexander the Great, "the like of which had not been seen in Greece," and was recorded by Chinese pilgrims in the 4th or 5th century CE. At its zenith, the Rai Dynasty of Sindh ruled the surrounding territories; the Pala Dynasty was the last Buddhist empire, under Dharmapala and Devapala, stretched across South Asia from what is now Bangladesh through Northern India to Pakistan. The Arab conqueror Muhammad bin Qasim conquered Sindh in 711 CE; the Pakistan government's official chronol
Javed Miandad
Mohammad Javed Miandad, popularly known as Javed Miandad, is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer known for his unconventional style of captaincy and batting. He played for Pakistan in Tests and One-Day Internationals between 1975 and 1996. Noted for his unique technique and impressive control, Miandad has won accolades and applause from cricket historians as well as contemporaries. ESPNcricinfo described him as "the greatest batsman Pakistan has produced" and his contemporary Ian Chappell extolled him as one of the finest batsmen in the history of cricket. Miandad was ranked 44th among the best cricketers of all time by the ESPN Legends of Cricket, he has served as a captain of the Pakistan team. He is known for his historic last ball big six against India in 1986 at Sharjah, when 4 runs were required to win, winning an international game in that fashion for the first time, for his contribution with the bat in the 1992 ICC World Cup. After his playing career, Miandad has remained the coach of Pakistan cricket team at various occasions, as well as held key positions in the Pakistan Cricket Board.
He had three coaching stints with the Pakistan national team. His son is married to the daughter of mafia leader Dawood Ibrahim. Javed Miandad was born on 12 June 1957 in Karachi.. He had three brothers who played first-class cricket in Pakistan: Anwar Miandad, Sohail Miandad and Bashir Miandad, his nephew, Faisal Iqbal, is a Test cricketer. Pakistan first Test captain, Abdul Hafeez Kardar, upon seeing Miandad during the 1970s, predicted famously about him: "the find of the decade", his inclusion in the Pakistan team was itself an achievement. A formidable batting line-up of Mushtaq Mohammad, Majid Khan, Sadiq Mohammad, Zaheer Abbas, Asif Iqbal and Wasim Raja were hard to break into, but Miandad's raw talent made it possible and he became an integral part of Pakistan's strong batting lineup, he made his Test debut against New Zealand at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore on 9 October 1976. He scored 163 and 25 not out in that match, became the youngest batsman to score a century on debut, at the age of 19 years and 119 days.
In the third match of the same series, he scored a double century by scoring 206 runs at the National Stadium, Karachi. He broke George Headley's 47-year-old record, became the youngest player—aged 19 years and 140 days—to score a double-century, he scored 85 runs in the second innings, failing to accomplish the unique feat of scoring a double-century and a century in a single match. Miandad was the highest run-scorer of the series, with 504 runs from five innings at the average of 126.00. His performance ensured Pakistan's victory in the three-match series by 2–0. During Pakistan's tour to Australia in 1976–77, he played three Tests and scored 148 runs at the average of 29.60. He took five wickets in the series, including three wickets for 85 runs at the Adelaide Oval. In the 1977–78 home series against England, Miandad scored 262 runs at the average of 131.00, including three half-centuries. His highest score in an innings in the series was 88 runs not out at Hyderabad. Miandad scored a Test century in his first match against India at the Iqbal Stadium, during the 1978–79 series between the teams.
With 154 not out in the match, he completed his first 1,000 Test runs at the age of 21 years and 126 days. In the same series, by scoring another century at the National Stadium, he accumulated 357 runs from five innings at the average of 178.50, ensured Pakistan's victory 2–0. In the same season, Miandad played three matches in New Zealand, accumulated 297 runs against them at the average of 99.00. Being the highest run-scorer of the series, he scored 160 not out at the Lancaster Park, Christchurch. During the Pakistan's tour to Australia in the same season, he scored 183 runs at the average of 61.00, including 129 runs not out at the WACA Ground, Perth. Under the captaincy of Asif Iqbal in 1979–80, Pakistan toured India and played a six-Test match series against them. Miandad was one of the most "consistent" batsmen, scoring 421 runs—behind Sunil Gavaskar's 529 and Wasim Raja's 450—with the help of four fifties, averaged 42.10. During the third series at the Wankhede Stadium, Bombay, he completed 2,000 Test runs of his career.
In the same season, Miandad was appointed as Pakistan's captain for the first time, against the touring Australia. He scored 181 runs at the average over 60 in the series, including 106 runs not out at the Iqbal Stadium and Pakistan won the three-match series 1–0. In the solitary series of the 1980–81 at home, against the West Indies, Miandad scored 230 runs at the average of 32.85. He scored 60 of the 128 runs in the Pakistan's first innings of the third Test match, after they were 14 runs for four wickets. In the 1981–82, during the Pakistan's tour of Australia, Miandad captained the Pakistan team in three Test maches. During the first Test at Perth, he was involved in an unpleasant controversy with Dennis Lillee, where the two players came into contact after Lillee blocked Miandad's way while he was taking a single. Pakistan lost the first two matches of the series, but they won the third Test at Malbourne by an innings and 82 runs, finished the series 2–1. Miandad batted throughout the series, but could not get support from his teammates as a captain.
He scored 205 runs from five innings including two half-centuries. In the home series of the same season agains
India national cricket team
The India national cricket team known as Team India and Men in Blue, is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test, One Day International and Twenty20 International status. Although cricket was introduced to India by European merchant sailors in the 18th century, the first cricket club was established in Calcutta in 1792, India's national cricket team did not play its first Test match until 25 June 1932 at Lord's, becoming the sixth team to be granted Test cricket status. In its first fifty years of international cricket, India was one of the weaker teams, winning only 35 of the first 196 Test matches it played. From 1932 India had to wait until 1952 20 years for its first Test victory; the team, gained strength in the 1970s with the emergence of players such as batsmen Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath, all-rounder Kapil Dev and the Indian spin quartet of Erapalli Prasanna, Srinivas Venkataraghavan, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Bishen Singh Bedi.
Traditionally much stronger at home than abroad, the Indian team has improved its overseas form in limited-overs cricket, since the start of the 21st century, winning Test matches in Australia and South Africa. It has won the Cricket World Cup twice – in 1983 under the captaincy of Kapil Dev and in 2011 under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. After winning the 2011 World Cup, India became only the third team after West Indies and Australia to have won the World Cup more than once, the first cricket team to win the World Cup at home, it won the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 and 2013 ICC Champions Trophy, under the captaincy of MS Dhoni. It was the joint champions of 2002 ICC Champions Trophy, along with Sri Lanka; as of 19 October 2018, India is ranked first in Tests, second in ODIs and second in T20Is by the ICC. Virat Kohli is the current captain of the team across all formats, while the head coach is Ravi Shastri; the Indian cricket team has rivalries with other Test-playing nations, most notably with Pakistan, the political arch-rival of India.
However, in recent times, rivalries with nations like Australia, South Africa and England have gained prominence. The British brought cricket to India in the early 1700s, with the first cricket match played in 1721. In 1848, the Parsi community in Bombay formed the Oriental Cricket Club, the first cricket club to be established by Indians. After slow beginnings, the Europeans invited the Parsis to play a match in 1877. By 1912, the Parsis, Sikhs and Muslims of Bombay played a quadrangular tournament with the Europeans every year. In the early 1900s, some Indians went on to play for the England cricket team; some of these, such as Ranjitsinhji and KS Duleepsinhji were appreciated by the British and their names went on to be used for the Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy – two major first-class tournaments in India. In 1911, an Indian team went on their first official tour of the British Isles, but only played English county teams and not the England cricket team. India was invited to The Imperial Cricket Council in 1926, made their debut as a Test playing nation in England in 1932, led by CK Nayudu, considered as the best Indian batsman at the time.
The one-off Test match between the two sides was played at Lord's in London. The team went on to lose by 158 runs. India hosted its first Test series in the year 1933. England was the visiting team that played 2 Tests in Calcutta; the visitors won the series 2-0. The Indian team continued to improve throughout the 1930s and'40s but did not achieve an international victory during this period. In the early 1940s, India didn't play any Test cricket due to the Second World War; the team's first series as an independent country was in late 1947 against Sir Donald Bradman's Invincibles. It was the first Test series India played, not against England. Australia won the five-match series 4–0, with Bradman tormenting the Indian bowling in his final Australian summer. India subsequently played their first Test series at home not against England against the West Indies in 1948. West Indies won the 5-Test series 1–0. India recorded their first Test victory, in their 24th match, against England at Madras in 1952.
In the same year, they won their first Test series, against Pakistan. They continued their improvement throughout the early 1950s with a series win against New Zealand in 1956. However, they did not win again in the remainder of the decade and lost badly to strong Australian and English sides. On 24 August 1959, India lost by an innings in the Test to complete the only 5–0 whitewash inflicted by England; the next decade saw. They won their first Test series against England at home in 1961–62 and won a home series against New Zealand, they managed to draw another series against England. In this same period, India won its first series outside the subcontinent, against New Zealand in 1967–68; the key to India's bowling in the 1970s were the Indian spin quartet – Bishen Bedi, E. A. S. Prasanna, BS Chandrasekhar and Srinivas Venkataraghavan; this period saw the emergence of two of India's best batsmen, Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath. Indian pitches have had the tendency to support spin and the spin quartet exploited this to create collapses in opposing batting line-ups.
These players were responsible for the back-to-back series wins in 1971 in the West Indies and in England, under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar
Pakistan (3rd title)
Mohammad Azharuddin (371)
Pakistan