Top Moments In The World Cup
Top five Indian cricket moments of the decade (2010 -2019)
In the past decade there have been a few ups and downs in Indian cricket with India winning the world cup in the 50-over format to 4-0 white washes against England and Australia in 2011, Kohli taking over the captaincy of the team to Dhoni taking a sabbatical leave, Sachin’s retirement to spot-fixing in KPL, Yuvraj Singh fighting cancer and many more.
People will have their own top moments, however, here are my top five moments in Indian cricket in the decade of 2010-2019.
2010 – Sachin scored first ODI double hundred
On 24th February 2010, Sachin Tendulkar scored 200 not out against South Africa at Gwalior. With this feat, Sachin became the first player to score a double hundred in 50-over international cricket. Sachin once again proved why he is called the God of cricket. Many people came close to it but no one could achieve the feat except for Sachin. This was the only record missing in Sachin’s record book with most hundreds, fifties, most runs and many more records in ODIs. The record was achieved after 2,961 overall ODIs played.
Cricinfo recorded 45 million page views on that day and caused the Cricinfo server to crash.
2011 – after 28 years India secures the world cup
“Dhoni finishes off in style. A magnificent strike into the crowd! India lift the World Cup after 28 years!” shouted Ravi Shastri on 2nd April 2011 when India won the world cup after 28 years. India defeated Sri Lanka in the final of an exciting tournament that was hosted jointly by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Dhoni scored 91 not out in the final along with the winning six. India was the first host nation to secure the trophy. Sachin was carried on the shoulders of his teammates and did a lap of honour to show that they dedicate the world cup to him.
The entire country celebrated by coming on the roads of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, etc.
Yuvraj Singh battling with cancer helped India to lift the world cup and was awarded as ‘Player of the Tournament’ for his all-round performance.
2013 – India wins Champions trophy
The Indian team led by MS Dhoni won the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 in England. Dhoni and the team defended the total in a rain-curtailed game against the host England. It was a nail-biter of a finish with India snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. India won the game by mere five runs.
Dhoni was the first captain to lead his team to victory in all three ICC events, which included the T20 World Cup, the ODI World Cup, and the Champions Trophy. He is also the only captain to win the IPL as well as the Champions League Twenty20.
2013 – Sachin retires from international cricket
On 16th November 2013, India wept when Sachin Tendulkar retired from his 24-year-long illustrious career. Sachin scored 74 in his last test innings. He played his last match in Mumbai from where he started his cricketing journey in front of the home crowd along with family, friends and his coach Ramakant Achrekar.
His farewell speech was one of the best speeches I have heard by a cricket player. It brought tears to everyone in the stadium as well who witnessed it on TV. If his speech was not enough, he walked back to the pitch and paid a tribute. Sachin’s final dream was to be a part of the world cup winning team. He achieved the dream with the help of a team led by Dhoni. Sachin scored 482 runs finishing second in the most scorer.
Tendulkar retired with the most number of tests, ODIs, runs, hundreds and many other several records.
2019 – India plays first-ever day and night test match
India played its first day and night test cricket also called the pink ball test match at Eden Gardens on November 22, 2019. India became the last significant cricketing nation to enter into the elite batch of nations playing day and night cricket after resisting for a long time. This was expected from India’s new cricket chief Sourav Ganguly once he joined the office.
On the first day Hasina Sheikh, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee rang the bell at the start of the historic game.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be a one-sided match and ended on the third day with Indian winning by an innings and 46 runs.
Eden Gardens was sold out for the first four days of this historic day & night test match.
