BEST INDIAN CRICKET PLAYERS

1-Mahendra Singh Dhoni

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Known for his cool, composed nature, MS Dhoni led India to their second World Cup victory in 2011. The thinking and calculative captain is also regarded as one of the greatest finishers in limited-over cricket. A smart thinker and natural ability to accelerate the innings make MSD one of the most treasured players of Indian team. The ICC World Cup 2015 will be his third World Cup appearance, after 2007 and 2011.

2-Virat Kohli

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The deputy-in-charge of Team India, Virat Kohli has come a long way from last world cup to present game of cricket. From becoming the first Indian to score a century on World Cup debut in 2011, Kohli is considered to be the best batsman of Team India and in the world at present.

3-Ajinkya Rahane

Ajinkya-Rahane

Ajinkya Rahane, the skilful batsman who impressed everyone on the India’s Tour of England earlier this year has gone places over the last year after warming the bench for a long time. The 26-year-old showed his class and temperament against the English pacers in hostile conditions to score his first century.

4-Shikhar Dhawan

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The mustachioed marauder has been an overnight success after many years on the fringes of the team. He has struck form in recent series against Sri Lanka and England after starting the year on a lean patch. At home, Dhawan is a force to reckon with but struggled away from home in the past year.

5-Manoj Tiwary

manoj

Manoj Tiwary’s heroic efforts to first rescue East Zone in Deodhar Trohy to lead his side to title has been well awarded by the selectors. The talented player whose batting style was compared to Kevin Pietersen has been well roped in as one of the specialist batsmen in Indian cricket team.

6-Rohit Sharma

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After his historic individual score of 264-run, there circulated a joke of only Rohit Sharma being taken as batsman and rest of the berths to be filled with bowlers. Despite his phlegmatic reputation at the crease,  Rohit Sharma will be a key figure in India’s batting line-up.

7-Ambati Rayudu

ambati

A reliable batsman off-late but his consistency with the bat especially after his maiden century against Sri Lanka in the home series caught the selectors’ eyes. The lack of experience and flair make him a weak-link in the batting line-up.

8-Suresh Raina

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Another player retained from the World Cup 2011 winning side, Suresh Raina can be the most destructive player on his given day but his struggle against short-pitched deliveries make him vulnerable especially on the bouncy, seaming pitches of Australia and New Zealand.

9-Ravindra Jadeja

ravindra

One of Dhoni’s trusted soldiers; Jadeja has evolved as an all-rounder over the years. His consistent bowling performances have overshadowed his credibility as batsman. An electric fielder and ability to contribute in the middle overs make him an automatic choice.

10-Murali Vijay

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A player who does not boast of numerous ODI appearances but as a Test Player, Murali Vijay has escalated to be India’s one of the best players last year. So, Will Vijay who have proved his ODI-esque in IPL matches, be able to make cut in India’s 15-man squad down under next year?

11-Sanju Samson

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One of the debutants in this probables list, Sanju Samson, is seen as the rising youngster in India. He showed his capabilities during his IPL stint with Rajasthan Royals both as an aggressive strokemaker and swift wicket-keeping.

12-Manish Pandey

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Another debutant who is rather getting his dues quite late but the consistency backed with excellent domestic record helped Manish Pandey book his place in this list. His brilliant contribution in Kolkata Knight Riders’ second IPL win also did not go unnoticed.

13-Ishant Sharma

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In terms of experience, Ishant Sharma is seen as the spear-head of bowling pack of Indian side. But his erratic consistency, blow-hot-blow-cold performances puts him in real tight spot to lead in World Cup 2015.

14-Varun Aaron

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One of the genuine fast bowlers in Team India, Varun Aaron has displayed some fiery bowling on the English soil. Remember the nose-breaking delivery to Stuart Broad? Currently, he has started off on a well note in Australia.

15- R Ashwin

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Ashwin is the only bowler to be retained from last World Cup. The frontline spinner has proved himself on the home-soil but his ineffectiveness with the use of kookaburra in last tours of Australia and New Zealand is cause of worry for Team India.

16- Wriddhiman Saha

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Wriddhiman Saha is one of the players who has proved his worth on foreign soil during the last Border-Gavaskar series that took place in Australia. An able back-up wicketkeeper and even more reliable batsman, Saha is a great choice to feature in the probables list.

17- Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Bhuvneshwar-Kumar

In many ways, Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the actual spear-head of bowling attack. The most reliable pacer among the list of fast-bowlers announced. His improvement in batting also makes him a good lower order batsman.

18-Mohammed Shami

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A little jaded after series of matches, Mohammed Shami is fresh off the break from last Sri Lanka home series. His run in early 2014 away series at New Zealand, one of the host nations was tough and hence puts him under scanner to perform well.

all about cricket games rules structure etc..

cricket game structure ( all about cricket )

Cricket is a game played between two teams made up of eleven players each. There is also a reserve player called a “twelfth man” who is used should a player be injured during play.

The twelfth man is not allowed to bowl, bat, wicket keep or captain the team. His sole duty is to act as a substitute fielder.

The original player is free to return to the game as soon as they have recovered from their injury.

To apply the law and make sure the cricket rules are upheld throughout the game there are two umpires in place during games. Umpires are responsible for making decisions and notifying the scorers of these decisions.

Two umpires are in place on the playing field while there is also a third umpire off the field who is in charge of video decisions.

This is where the call is too close for the on field umpires and they refer it to the third umpire who reviews slow motion video replays to make a decision.

Game Structure

Test cricket is a game that spans over two innings. This means that one team needs to bowl the other team out twice and score more runs then them to win the match. Another key difference between test cricket and other forms of cricket is the length of the innings. In test cricket there is no limit to the innings length. Whereas in one day cricket & Twenty20 cricket there are a certain amount of overs per innings. The only limits in test cricket is a 5 day length. Before the game begins an official will toss a coin. The captain who guesses the correct side of the coin will then choose if they want to bat or field first. One team will then bat while the other will bowl & field. The aim of the batting team is to score runs while the aim of the fielding team is to bowl ten people out and close the batting teams’ innings. Although there are eleven people in each team only ten people need to be bowled out as you cannot have one person batting alone. Batting is done in pairs.

Once the first team has been bowled out the second team would then go into bat. Once the second team is then bowled out it would normally return to the first team batting again. However there is an exception to this in the cricket rules, it is called the follow-on. The follow-on is when the first team makes at least 200 runs more than the second team made (in a 5 day test match). This then gives the first team the option to make the second team bat again. This is particularly useful if the game is progressing slowly or affected by bad weather and there might not be enough time for both teams to play a full innings. Should this be the case the batting team’s captain also has the right to forfeit their innings at any time. This is called a declaration. Some may wonder why a captain would forfeit the opportunity for his team to bat. However if the game is coming close to a close and it looks like they will not be able to bowl the other team out again this could be an option. If one team is not bowled out twice and a winner determined in the five days of play the game is declared a draw. Therefore it may be worth declaring an innings to creat the possibility of a win rather than a draw.

Ways to score runs

The aim of the batsmen is to score runs. One of the main cricket rules is that for batsmen to score runs they must run to each other’s end of the pitch (from one end to the other). In doing this one run is scored. Cricket rules state they may run multiple runs per shot. As well as running they can also score runs by hitting boundaries. A boundary scores the batsmen either 4 or 6 runs. A four is scored by hitting the ball past the boundary after hitting the ground while a six is scored by hitting the ball past the boundary on the full (before it hits the ground). Cricket rules also state that once a 4 or 6 has been scored any runs physically ran by the batsman are null & void. They will only obtain the 4 or 6 runs.

Other ways runs can be scored according to the cricket rules include no balls, wide balls, byes & leg byes. Cricket rules state that all runs scored by these methods are awarded to the batting team but not the individual batters.

• A “No Ball” can be declared for many reasons: If the bowler bowls the ball from the wrong place, the ball is declared dangerous (often happens when bowled at the batsmen’s body on the full), bounces more than twice or rolls before reaching the batsman or if fielders are standing in illegal positions. The batsman can hit a no ball and score runs off it but cannot be out from a no ball except if they are ran out, hit the ball twice, handle the ball or obstruct the field. The batsman gains any runs scored off the no ball for his shot while the team also gains one run for the no ball itself.
• A “Wide Ball” will be declared if the umpire thinks the batsman did not have a reasonable opportunity to score off the delivery. However if the delivery is bowled over the batsmen’s head it will not be declared a wide but a no ball. Umpires are much stricter on wide deliveries in the shorter format of the game while being much more relaxed in test cricket. A wide delivery will add one run to the batting team and any runs scored by the batsman. The batsman is not able to get out off a wide delivery except if they are stumped, run out, handle the ball, hit their wicket or obstruct the field.
• A “Bye” is where a ball that isn’t a no ball or wide passes the striking batsman and runs are scored without the batsman hitting the ball.
• A “Leg Bye” is where runs are scored by hitting the batsman, but not the bat and the ball is not a no ball or wide. However no runs can be scored if the striking batsman didn’t attempt to play a shot or if he was avoiding the ball.

Ways Batsmen can be given out according to cricket rules

There are a number of different ways a batsman can be given out in the game of cricket. When a bowler gets a batsman out it is said that the bowler gets a “wicket”. Following are the different ways a batsman can be given out according to the rules of cricket:

• Bowled – Cricket rules state that if the ball is bowled and hits the striking batsman’s wickets the batsman is given out (as long as at least one bail is removed by the ball). It does not matter whether the ball has touched the batsman’s bat, gloves, body or any other part of the batsman. However the ball is not allowed to have touched another player or umpire before hitting the wickets.
• Caught – Cricket rules state that if a batsman hits the ball or touches the ball at all with his bat or hand/glove holding the bat then the batsman can be caught out. This is done by the fielders, wicket keeper or bowler catching the ball on the full (before it bounces). If this is done then cricket rules state the batsman is out.
• Leg Before Wicket (LBW) – If the ball is bowled and it hits the batsman first without the bat hitting it then an LBW decision is possible. However for the umpire to give this out he must first look at some of the factors stated in the cricket rules. The first thing the umpire need to decide is would the ball have hit the wickets if the batsman was not there. If his answer to this is yes and the ball was not pitched on the leg side of the wicket he can safely give the batsman out. However if the ball hits the batsman outside the line of off stump while he was attempting to play a stroke then he is not out.
• Stumped – A batsman can be given out according to cricket rules when the wicketkeeper puts down his wicket while he is out of his crease and not attempting a run (if he is attempting a run it would be a runout).
• Run Out - Cricket rules state that a batsman is out if no part of his bat or body is grounded behind the popping crease while the ball is in play and the wicket is fairly put down by the fielding side.
• Hit Wicket – Cricket rules specify that if a batsman hits his wicket down with his bat or body after the bowler has entered his delivery stried and the ball is in play then he is out. The striking batsman is also out if he hits his wicket down while setting off for his first run.
• Handled The Ball – Cricket rules allow the batsman to be given out if he willingly handles the ball with the hand that is not touching the bat without the consent of the opposition.
• Timed Out – An incoming batsman must be ready to face a ball or be at the non strikers end with his partner within three minutes of the outgoing batsman being dismissed. If this is not done the incoming batsman can be given out.
• Hit The Ball Twice – Cricket rules state that if a batsman hits a ball twice other than for the purpose of protecting his wicket or with consent from the opposition he is out.
• Obstructing The Field – A batsman is out if he willingly obstructs the opposition by word or action

benefits of sports

The Benefits of Participating in Sports

Playing sports helps you stay in shape, teaches you how to organize your time, boosts friendships, and builds relationships with your peers and adults. Through athletics, you gain skills that can best be acquired on a court, track, or field.

Friendship

Playing sports enables you to create friendships you otherwise might not have formed. Sports bring teens together from different schools, backgrounds, and communities. Many times, the friendships you create on the field remain intact even when you are not playing sports.

Family

The fans on the sidelines are one of the most imp

As a teen, it is not always easy to find time to spend time with your parents. Sports give you and your parents time to appreciate one another.

ortant parts of the game. The constant support of your parents helps you to feel good about yourself and strengthens your connection to them.

Coaches

Providing wisdom and encouragement, coaches can be very good role models. The relationship that you develop with your coach is very important to the success of the team.

Positive coaching helps to bring the team together, and gives players the right tools to push themselves academically and physically.

Health

Participating in sports improves your health in many ways. To be a good athlete, you must take care of yourself. This gets you thinking about what to eat and how to treat your body to achieve peak performance levels.

Sports Nutrition

When engaging in sports for the first time, you may feel hungrier than usual. This is normal, because your body is expending much more energy than it is used to. Here are some nutrition tips to help keep you healthy while you participate in sports.

• Eat fat. About 20 to 25 percent of energy comes from fats, so to keep energy levels high, your body needs you to consume fat.
• Make sure to eat before, during, and after your sport. The helps maintain blood glucose levels, which in turn will help enhance your sports performance.
• Keep hydrated! When playing a sport, your body loses a lot of fluid, which can cause dehydration. This is dangerous – and potentially fatal – so drink plenty of water.
• Eat a balanced diet. An athlete's diet should include plenty of complex carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and fats.
• Limit salt and simple sugar.
• Don't fast!

School

It's a common misconception that being both a student and an athlete is hard, if not impossible. Participating in sports can actually have a positive impact on school.

Sports force you to organize your time so that you can both go to practice and finish your homework. The key is finding a balance. If you can learn to organize your time then you can succeed in both.

Leadership Skills

Participating in sports helps build leadership skills. Sports teams give you an opportunity to surround yourself with competitive people and role models, and learn from them both. You can demonstrate your own leadership through team captainships and individual actions to improve your team's success.