India's First Test Victory

India achieved its first ever Test victory in 1951-52 when it beat England in Madras. Having made its Test debut in 1932, India had to wait for 20 long years in the sidelines before making its mark in the big stage. In that eventful year, India also recorded its maiden series triumph against Pakistan.

In this historic match legendary batsman Vijay Hazare led the Indian contingent while his English counterpart was Donald Carr. With England sitting pretty on a 1-0 lead, the Indian team was looking to restore parity in this final Test of the five match series.

The England team won the toss and elected to bat. Thanks to an inspired bowling performance by Vinoo Mankad, the English team was bowled out for 266 with Mankad grabbing eight wickets. India replied with a mammoth total of 457, riding piggyback on fine centuries by Pankaj Roy and Polly Umrigar.

On a pitch that was breaking up and spinning, India bowled out England for a paltry 183 in the second innings, to win the Test by an innings and eight runs. Mankad and Ghulam Ahmed shared the spoils with four wickets apiece.

Even though England was missing the services of some key players, nothing can take the sheen off India's emphatic first ever Test victory.

Famous Kolkata Test Victory 2001

Before the Kolkata Test, the Australian juggernaut has piled up 16 consecutive Test wins and India was already down 0-1 in the three Test series. With their back to the wall, Indians came up with a memorable performance to win the Test and level the series.

As the Test progressed, Australia appeared to have carried on from where they had left in the first Test and put up a challenging total of 445 despite Harbhajan Singh registering India's first ever Test hat-trick. In reply, India were bundled out for a paltry 171 and asked to follow on by Steve Waugh. Still 274 behind, India were losing early wickets with the well-set VVS Laxman holding fort at one end.

After Ganguly's departure, Rahul Dravid joined Laxman and what followed was a mammoth partnership of such magnitude that it changed the cricketing fortunes of this country. They just went on and on and the 376-run partnership helped India put together an overwhelming 657/7 declared.

Pursuing a challenging target of 384 runs of a minimum 75 overs, Australia were 161 for 3 at tea on the final day. Post tea, Australian wickets started falling in a heap with Harbhajan Singh (6/73) and Tendulkar (3/31) knocking the stuffing out of the visiting side. All out for 212, Australia's 16 match winning streak came to an end in a 171 run loss.

India's 1983 Cricket World Cup Victory

India's 1983 cricket World Cup victory over the mighty West Indies is widely acknowledged as the defining moment in the history of Indian cricket. Under the spirited leadership of Kapil Dev, a determined Indian team exploited the English conditions to clinch the coveted title. 

India made their intentions pretty clear by shocking the favorites West Indies in their campaign opener. In their next match, India thrashed the minnows Zimbabwe with Madan Lal playing a pivotal role. However the euphoria over the successive wins was short lived as India was dealt out a 162 run thrashing from Australia just two days later.

India's second Group match against Zimbabwe unfolded high drama. Batting first, India was looking down the barrel with five wickets down for just 17 runs on board. But skipper Kapil Dev chose the occasion to lead by example and his whirlwind knock of 175 set the stage for a memorable Indian victory. 

The final raised the specter of an Indian humiliation in the hands of the Goliaths of world cricket, the West Indies. Even though India had beaten West Indies in the group stage, the wise and knowledgeable of the game predicted a comprehensive win for the Indies. 

Batting first, India were bundled out for 183 in the face of the hostile West Indian pace attack. However, when it came to their turn, the West Indian batsmen collapsed and ultimately fell short of the target by 43 runs. The Indian spirit was epitomized by an astonishing catch by Kapil Dev who sprinted back 20 yards to latch onto the skier from the marauding blade of the great Viv Richards.

As the news filtered through to the fans back home, it led to unprecedented scenes of jubilation throughout Delhi and Calcutta and the rest of the country.

Dhoni's Profile

Biography

Personal information

Full name: Mahendra Singh Dhoni
D.O.B: 7th July, 1981
Place of Birth: Ranchi, Bihar
Nickname: Mahi

Cricketing information

Role: Captain of the Indian ODI and Twenty20 team and Vice captain of the Test team
Batting style: Right hand batsman
Bowling style: Right arm medium
Field position: Wicketkeeper
Clubs played: Jharkhand

Cricketing profile

Mahendra Singh Dhoni started his first class career in the year 1999-2000. His one day international debut came after playing five years of first class cricket on the 23rd of December 2004 against Bangladesh. The venue of the match was in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Unfortunately, he was run out on the first ball he faced. It wasn’t a great debut for him where batting is concerned. Luck wasn’t on his side in the first four matches he played. Where as on the fifth match which was played against Pakistan in Visakhapatnam, Dhoni came to the crease one down and managed to score 148 runs from just 123 balls. He hit 15 boundaries and four sixes. He got his first man of the match award that day. Not only a good wicketkeeper but Dhoni proved himself to be a first class batsman too. He is one of the few finest wicketkeeper batsman India has seen after a very long time.

On the 31st of October, Dhoni broke the record of highest runs scored by a wicket keeper by securing 183 runs against Srilanka which was played at Jaipur. Adam Gilchrist was the former record holder with 172 runs.

Before he started playing cricket, he was a football goalkeeper. Its said he drinks around four litres of milk everyday but he denied it by saying that has been exaggerated a bit. He said he loves milk and drinks around a litre on a daily basis.

On the 2nd of December 2005, Dhoni made his Test cricket debut against Srilanka which was played in Chennai, India.

Personal profile

Dhoni was born and brought up in the city of Ranchi. He has two siblings. A sister who is married and a brother who lives in Almora. Almora is a high-lying town at the foot of the Himalaya which is his father’s home town. His father’s name is Pan Singh and mother’s name is Devki Devi.

His hobbies and interests include:

• Hearing music, ghazals and songs by Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar
• Loves to ride bikes
• Enjoys playing computer games and badminton

Not interested in:

• English songs
• Working out at gyms

Special qualities:

• Thinks positive
• Highly confident about himself
• Is aggressive on the field

His Idol:

• Adam Gilchrist