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Going into his hundredth test, which is a great achievement in a cricketers life, Ian Bell has proved be one of the most consistent batsman in the English squad. He made his test debut with a beautifully placed 70 against the West Indies. But this wasn't how the story went for him. There were question marks whether his stomach is up for a battle but he has overcome all that, and going into the hundredth, he is firmly the main man in the England batting middle order. He had to struggle for the first half of his career as in he had averaged only 39.79 in the first 49 matches. But he did not give up and came back strongly with an average of 51.30 in the last 50 matches, and has played positively in his entire career. The overall figure is average for a man, who is going to play his 100th match. He averages 45.24 in 99 matches. Ian Bell will be only the 12th Englishman to have played 100 test match, which is nothing great than glory. Ian Bell, had a dream start to his test career...

 Before the start of the series, Bangladesh skipper expressed disappointment over India's team selection. With India, sending their junior team, Bangladesh skipper had many things to say. Firstly he said "I did not expect, India to take this series so lightly", and then he continued by saying "Remember, if we beat them, we wi ll beat India and not India A". But with the things that have gone so far, Bangladesh, forget winning, but your team is losing against a string team. On the other hand, Suresh Raina had only said "we are not under any pressure, we will enjoy it" and he has enjoyed it. After a loss in the first match, the Bangladeshi fans were delighted, but the happiness stayed only for one half of the match. What happened in the second half, was just extraordinary. Stuart Binny broke Anil Kumble's record, when he took 4-6. Mushfiqur Rahim, the captain after doing everything right in the first half, giving the pace bowlers ample chances and f...

 SA, have a tag with them which they want to riddle out quickly, but it seems to have stuck with them from a long time.  The 1999 WC is one which the South Africans would love to forget.  It all started with Herschelle Gibbs dropping Steve Waugh in the Super 6 stage of the tournament when Australia were chasing 272. Waugh's words to Gibbs were "You've just dropped the World Cup". Australia won the do or die match to qualify for the semis again against South Africa. The target set for South Africa, was just 214, with 9 to win off 6 balls and one wicket remaining, and with the first two balls struck for 4, just 1 was needed off the last 4 deliveries. then came a dot ball, 1 off 3 and a bizarre run out. Donald did not run!! Because Australia had won the previous encounter against South Africa in the Super 6, Australia proceeded to the finals and won the cup! Herschelle Gibbs, Klusener and Donald must have had sleepless nights! From that day, the chokers tag stayed with ...

Looking at Shane Watson, one would say, "wow what a personality" a broad chest with a beautifully shaped muscles and the agression in his eyes, Shane Watson is a player with who will intimidate the opposition just by a look.  Shane Watson debuted for Australia in the year 2002, but he had to be out of action soon due to a lot of injuries.    After a decade since his debut, he is no doubt among the best all rounders. He is considered as the senior most player in the Australian line up, with Australia having some problems in the transition period after the retirement of Ponting and Hussey.  Shane Watson, is one type of an all rounder who you don't see much in cricket. He bats at the top and bowls a medium pace. Another similar type of all rounder is Jacques Kallis of South Africa.  Shane Watson was also a part of the IPL winning squad in the year 2008. Six years later, in 2014, he captained the RR side. It was a time when his Career was taking a huge turn. He...

 After a small break, Indian team gets together for a series against Bangladesh in Bangladesh. Dhoni and Kohli already had some other plans, and made themselves unavailable for the series. The Indian team management decided to make a team for testing the new talented players who performed well at IPL and in the domestic season. Suresh Raina will be the stand-in captain, due to unavailability of both, the captain Dhoni and the Vice captain Kohli.  It was a natural thing that Bangladesh did not like India's team selection. Mushfiqur Rahim, Bangladesh skipper, expressed irritation about the quality of Indian Team selected and he said that he never thought the visitors would take this series so lightly. He also said "We have defeated their best team in the past. They have young team, and despite the standard of the IPL, international cricket is a more difficult stage. And one should not forget, If they lose, India will lose, and not India A" I guess Rahim will love to destro...

What a story it has been for Suresh Raina. Wasn't selected for the Asia Cup, plays a brilliant season of IPL and some beautiful performances in the World T20, he is back in the ODI squad and guess what, he is back as the captain of the side. The team is young. No Dhoni, no Kohli, no Dhawan, no Rohit, no Jadeja, no Ashwin. The most important challenge for Raina is the captaincy. He hasn't been a successful captain so far with 5 losses and 4 wins out of 9, including the 2 losses to Zimbabwe. All he needs to think is about his form of batting. He is in a very good form and enjoys a healthy batting average(70) in Bangladesh. When he bats well, he will get confidence and which will help him to captain better. The next problem for Raina is team selection. Especially, who will bat at no.3? There is Pujara, Saha and Rayudu and even the captain himself Raina. Raina has an exceptional record batting at no.3. Saha gives an advantage of a wicket keeping batsman.  Rayudu was there in th...