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A memorable phase in Indian cricket





Indian Cricket has been blessed to have always had some wonderful and exuberant captains leading the team from the front. It all started off with Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, followed by Kapil Dev, followed by MS Dhoni, and now we have Virat Kohli.

Surely, Indian Cricket is going through a memorable phase; a phase which will not be forgotten for long. The Indian Cricket team has performed magnificently in all formats of the game in the past couple of years, particularly in the longest format of the game. We often get buoyed by controversies and forget about the more essential aspects of the game, and that is result. The results produced by the Indian team in the past year or two have been outstanding, to say the least.

It all started off with MS Dhoni handing over the Test Captaincy to Virat Kohli in late 2014. At that time, we all knew that a new chapter was beginning in Indian Cricket. 
What has been amazing about Kohli's leadership has been that he has not let it affect his batting in any manner. In fact, his batting has just risen to another level. He has led the team from the front on every occassion and has not failed to hog the limelight.

Cricket is a game which is more in the mind rather than on the field. Test cricket is actually like a story being scripted. Each and every day has an interesting and intriguing aspect added to it. Even though T-20 has become like the cornerstone of International Cricket, Test Cricket still remains the ultimate format, as it involves a lot of temperament and patience.

A perfect example to prove the point above is that of Cheteshwar Pujara. India's meteoric rise to Numero Uno in Test Cricket has been pioneered by him. In 2015, when India went to Sri Lanka for playing three tests, the team was in complete dire straits. It had just lost an ODI series to Bangladesh, and the pain was being felt by each and every player. At the same point of time, Pujara too was fighting for a place back in the side. A poor tour to England in 2014 had literally kept him out of the team for nearly an year. He came back and placed in the third and decisive test of that series against Sri Lanka, and scored a wonderful 145*. That innings sealed his place once again in the side.
Pujara is a player who is very focussed and literally meditates while he bats. In the third test match in the series against Australia at Ranchi, he scored 200 of 500 balls. He is an emblem of perseverance and commitment.

Ravichandran Ashwin too has pioneered India's rise. He has become the fifth leading wicket-taker in the history of India, and I feel he still has a minimum of 7-8 years of cricket left in him.
Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja too have made significant contributions in the last couple of years.

All this has confirmed one point, and that is- Indian cricket is in safe hands. Though the Indian team will be facing testing tours to England, Australia and New Zealand in the coming year, we must never forget this period, and must savour the moment. We are not sure about the results which our team will produce abroad, but we must always support them, and must except loss sportingly. That is the moral duty of being supporters (not fans).

Wishing the Indian team best of luck for their upcoming tours. Let us join our hands together and applaud the team for its wonderful performance!!!!!!!!!!








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