cricket

The Indian Cricket Team is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the governing body of cricket in the country. The first recorded match in India was in 1721 when a group of sailors gathered to play in Western India. However, it was only on 25th June 1932 at the famous Lord's cricket ground in England that a national team played an official Test match. Only the sixth team to play Test cricket, India are known to be traditionally strong on its home soil while not really making an impact on away tours. In the first 50 years of their playing history, India won only 35 of the 196 matches played. But it's heartening to note much has changed over the past few years. With the emergence of cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, Indian cricket went from strength to strength. The 1983 ICC Cricket World Cup was definitely a high point not just in cricket but in Indian sporting history as well. They possessed jewels like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly who brought much glory for the country with their stellar contributions.   A new breed of cricketers also took centre-stage in the form of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, etc. Winning the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 in 2007 was a special moment in India's cricketing annals. But the biggest moment of glory came on 2nd April 2011 when India beat Sri Lanka in the finals of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and went on to become world champions. Under Dhoni's captaincy, an Indian team made history after 28 long years and gave its multitude of fans much to cheer about.   In 2013, Dhoni became the only captain in the history of the game to win all three major ICC trophies after India won the Champions Trophy in England. Although after some poor away form in Test cricket, Dhoni stepped down as captain in red-ball cricket in 2014. However, earlier that year, India finished runners-up in the T20 World Cup held in Bangladesh as they lost to Sri Lanka in the final.   Except for the 2007 World Cup, India have generally done well in the ICC events. In the 2015 World Cup, they played an aggressive brand of cricket but then lost to the eventual winners Australia in the semis. There was a change in leadership when MS Dhoni stepped down from the shorter formats as well and Virat Kohli was handed over the captaincy. Under his captaincy, India reached the final of the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017 but faced defeat against their arch-rivals. However, in the longer format of the game, India's performance has been excellent, especially at home. They are the current holders of the ICC Test mace and also created history by winning a Test series in Australia after a wait of 71 years, a feat never achieved before by any Asian team.   The infrastructure of the Indian cricket team has improved by leaps and bounds in the last decade or so. Plenty of youngsters are getting good exposure and chance to play alongside some greats of the game in the Indian Premier League and as a result, their bench strength can be considered to be one of the best at the moment.