The monkey is finally off his back.

At about half past four at Mirpur’s Shere Bangla Stadium, Sachin Tendulkar tapped a delivery from Shakib Al Hasan on his pads behind square. He scampered to the non-striker’s end for a single. There was no exaggerated celebration; just a tired-looking glance heavenwards, a raised bat accepting the congratulations, and a finger pointed at the tri-colour on his helmet.

He was embraced by Suresh Raina in the middle before the Bangladesh players also ran up to congratulate him. The crowd welcomed the moment. They didn’t mind that the home team had been at the receiving end of this milestone. The oldest man on the park had finally done it.

With that single, Tendulkar completed his hundredth century in international cricket — an unprecedented feat that will not be passed again by anyone in a hurry. It was also his 49th hundred in an ODI, ending his year-long wait for a three-figure knock.

There may have been a more befitting stage for such an incredible milestone than an Asia Cup encounter against a weak bowling attack. Less befitting was the manner in which he crawled to the mark. There were 82 dot balls in Tendulkar’s innings, completely in contrast with how Virat Kohli, Raina, and several of the Bangladeshi batsmen played this game. He was a shadow of his former aggressive self in this innings, but what’s beyond doubt is Tendulkar’s place among the greatest sports persons of all times.

A hundred hundreds in international cricket was unheard of. In 1998, Tendulkar took the record at 36 hundreds held jointly by Sunil Gavaskar, Vivian Richards and Desmond Haynes. He has nearly tripled the mark, and this incredible feat of longevity will put him along such sporting icons as Pele, Navratilova and Federer.

Tendulkar, who is now in the 23rd year of his international career had been searching for this landmark since March 12 2011 when he last scored a hundred, against South Africa in Nagpur during the World Cup. Since then, he went 33 innings — including whole tours to England and Australia — without a hundred.

With each failure, the clamour around the milestone grew louder, with experts even questioning his motives behind continuing playing for India at the expense of young players waiting in the wings.

Today, India lost the early wicket of Gautam Gambhir in the sixth over when Shafiul Islam clean bowled the left-handed opener. Tendulkar and Virat Kohli (66) then added 148 runs for the second wicket, setting the stage for a big score.

Tendulkar scored his half-century in 63 balls with a lofted drive over extra cover off Shakib. He’d had a rough tour of Australia and this was also his first fifty since the 85 he scored against Pakistan in the World Cup semi-final.

He took 138 deliveries to score his century, which is one of his slowest in ODIs, but the occasion was so historic that it shouldn’t take the sheen off the landmark.

Tendulkar scored 114 from 147 balls before he was caught behind off Mashrafe Mortaza’s bowling in the 47th over of India’s innings which ended at 289-5 in their allotted 50 overs.

‘It was mentally tough’

Talking to Neo Cricket commentator Rameez Raja after India’s innings, Tendulkar said it has been a tough phase for him even though he started the season batting “reasonably well”. Asked if he had been thinking about the milestone, Tendulkar said he hadn’t.

Tendulkar said the hype around his hundredth century was started by the media and he was asked about it wherever he went – be it restaurants, house-keeping, or even while ordering room service. “Whoever met me spoke about it,” he said.

“I was not (thinking about it) to be honest. Nobody spoke about the 99th hundred when I got it in the World Cup. But since then, I have been asked about it wherever I have gone. ”

“It became difficult mentally because I am not playing only for my hundredth hundred.”

“Everybody has their opinions but I’ve got to do what it important for the team.”

He conceded the moment hadn’t sunk in yet but said “I have lost about fifty kilos.”

Asked what he would advice young people watching him at this moment, Tendulkar said, “Enjoy your game and chase your dreams. Dreams do come true.I had to wait for 22 years to realise my dream of winning the World Cup. Don’t stop chasing your dreams.”

Congratulations galore

India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was amongst the first to wish Tendulkar and said he has made the country proud. “Tendulkar’s long career has been a triumph of class, character and courage. I wish him many more innings and feats to continue inspiring the youth,” Singh said in a press release.

Tendulkar was also congratulated by ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said he is a marvel to cricket lovers around the world, adding he is a true role model. “On behalf of every cricket fan around the globe I congratulate Sachin on becoming the first person to score 100 centuries for his country. This is indeed a magnificent feat and not likely to be easily emulated,” Lorgat was quoted as saying in an ICC release.

Lorgat also said: “Like millions of others I have personally followed his career ever since he first played for India as a gifted 16-year-old and now, more than two decades later, his passion and personal records, which include more than 33,000 runs at international level, is a modern day wonder.”

Tendulkar scored his first international century – 119* – against England at Old Trafford in August 1990; while his first ODI century (110) came against Australia at Colombo on 9 September 1994.

Tendulkar scored 12 centuries in 1998 – the most he has in a year in his career. He has scored eight centuries in three different years (1996, 1999 and 2010).

Tendulkar, who is the most capped player in Tests and ODIs, holds an array of batting records including for the most runs and centuries scored in those two formats of the game.

In his 188 Tests, Tendulkar has scored 15470 runs, including 51 centuries; and in his 462 ODIs, the batting maestro has scored 18,374 runs, including 49 centuries.

Tendulkar has scored 1000 or more runs in a calendar six times – 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2008, 2010. He has also scored 1,000 or more ODI runs in a calendar year seven times – 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2007.

Source: Yahoo Cricket

Indian team media manager GS Walia read out the statement in the post-match press conference saying – “The team management categorically denies this. Reports about senior players retiring are baseless”. He refused to answer questions on the matter, saying that there was simply no truth in the reports.

Stand-in-captain Virender Sehwag who was also part of the post-match briefing rejected the reports. “Some reports have said that senior players will retire after this series. No such thing has happened and this is a decision that they will take. These are rumours created by the media,” said Sehwag.

On Friday, news agency PTI had reported that Dravid was likely to retire and that he was believed to have told some of his teammates that he had decided to hang his boots. The report was picked up by almost all Indian media outlets and quickly fuelled the rumours.

Source: Yahoo Cricket

Rahul Dravid may end his international career after India’s likely defeat in the Adelaide Test, unconfirmed media reports said on Friday.

PTI reported that Dravid, who has had a torrid time with the bat in Australia, may choose to announce his retirement on Saturday.

India are six-down and are certain to lose the Adelaide Test on the final day and with it, lose the series 4-0, having lost by the same margin in England.

Sections of the media reported the BCCI as saying that they were not aware of any plans Dravid may have to announce his exit.

The 39-year-old Dravid averages 24.25 in eight innings on the tour. He’s been out bowled in six of those innings, bringing his famed technique under the scanner.

He is believed to have told some of his team-mates after another failure against Australia in the final Test that he had decided to hang his boots, PTI said.

Dravid has played 164 Test matches, making 13,288 runs. He’s the second-highest Test scorer in history with Ricky Ponting now only 88 runs behind him.

He has made big contributions to some of India’s biggest Test wins, including a 180 in Kolkata against Australia in 2001 which set up an against-all-odds win for India.

His 233 and 72 in the Adelaide Test of 2003 handed Australia another famous defeat. Dravid’s highest Test score of 270 — against Pakistan in the Rawalpindi Test of 2004 — helped India complete their first Test series win in that country.

Where previous generations of Indian batsmen struggled, Dravid made big runs in bowler-friendly conditions. The two innings which stand out are his 148 in the Leeds Test of 2002 and the twin knocks of 81 and 68 on a minefield of a wicket in Jamaica. Both helped India score landmark Test wins.

Dravid also has a world record 210 Test catches. In 2011, Dravid had formally announced his retirement from India’s limited overs squad after a surprise recall during the England tour.

The batsman nicknamed The Wall for his hard-to-breach defense had made his Test debut in England in 1996, having made his ODI debut a few months earlier.

Dravid made 95 on Test debut at Lord’s before scoring 36 Test hundreds.

Source: Yahoo Cricket

Putting up a splendid all round show, India scored a comfortable 16-run win over the West Indies in the one-off Twenty20 international to begin their Caribbean tour on a resounding note here Saturday.

It is India”s first win over the West Indies in T20 format as they had lost the previous two encounters at Lord”s and Kensington Oval.

After being invited to bat on a tricky Sabina Park Oval strip India recovered from a top-order collapse to post a competitive 159 for six and then restricted the hosts to 143 for five.

Host skipper Darren Sammy had asked second-string India to bat under helpful conditions for the pacers and he himself did all the damage with four wickets as the visiting batsmen struggled to adjust to the bounce of the pitch.

India owed their recovery to top-scorer S Badrinath (43) and Rohit Sharma (26) as they combined for a 71-run stand for the fifth wicket after the visitors were reeling at 56 for four inside nine overs.

Yusuf Pathan (15 off 6) and Harbhajan Singh (15 off 7) hit some lusty shots towards the end to help India cross the 150-run mark.

Indian bowlers then complimented the good batting effort from the middle-order with a disciplined performance.

Harbhajan Singh (2/25) took two wickets while Praveen Kumar (1/27), R Ashwin (1/30) and Munaf Patel (1/35) contributed in the win with a wicket apiece.

For the West Indies, Darren Bravo hit a-run-a-ball 41 and Christopher Barnwell sparkled with a 16-ball unbeaten 34 but that only reduced the defeat margin for the hosts.

Source: Yahoo Cricket

Yuvraj has a small patch of pneumonitis on the left lung. Sachin Tendulkar, who had earlier opted out of the ODIs, will now miss the whole tour citing family commitments. With Gambhir’s injury, and with Virender Sehwag undergoing a shoulder surgery, India will be without both their regular openers after a long time.

“Tendulkar will not play the Test series. However, he will be available for the full tour of England, that follows,” the BCCI said.

Suresh Raina will replace Gambhir as the ODI captain. Manoj Tiwary and Shikhar Dhawan have been named the replacement batsmen. Harbhajan Singh will be Raina’s deputy.

BADRINATH, MUKUND, KOHLI IN TEST SQUAD

Tamil Nadu batsmen Subramaniam Badrinath and Abhinav Mukund have been brought in while ODI regular Virat Kohli has also been named in the squad. Captain MS Dhoni and Zaheer Khan will be available for the Tests. Test specialist VVS Laxman has been named Dhoni’s deputy.

Laxman was earlier India’s vice-captain on the South Africa in 2006. Munaf Patel, who last played a Test on the tour of New Zealand in 2009, is also back in the Test squad.

Badrinath was the highest run-scorer in the Ranji Trophy last season with 922 runs, including four tons and three fifties with a highest score of 195 at an average of 131.71.

CONSISTENT PERFORMERS

Badrinath has a stellar first-class record and has scored 7478 runs at an average of 62.31, with 27 centuries and 32 fifties. He last played a Test at home against South Africa in 2010.

Mukund had an impressive Ranji Trophy season. In nine matches, he made 620 runs with a highest score of 232 at an average of 56.36.

Dhawan was the highest run-scorer for Deccan Chargers in IPL-4 with 400 runs at an average of 33.33 and strike rate of 129.03. Tiwary scored 359 runs at an average of 51.28 and strike rate of 110.46 for Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL-4.

Delhi’s Dhawan played his only ODI against Australia in October 2010 where he scored a blob. Bengal’s Tiwary played his only ODI against Australia in February 2008 and scored two runs before being famously done in by a Brett Lee yorker. He slipped off the radar for the next couple of years before working his way back into form.

Kohli has scored 2131 runs, including seven centuries and eight half-centuries with a highest score of 197 at an average of 57.59 in 30 first-class matches.

Patel played the last of his 20 Tests against Sri Lanka in August 2008, where he filled in for Dhoni. He has 683 runs at an average of 29.69 and 41 catches with eight stumpings.

The selection meeting was also attended by India’s new coach Duncan Fletcher.

Test squad:

MS Dhoni (C/WK), VVS Laxman (VC), Murali Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, Subramaniam Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, S Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel (WK).

Limited-overs squad:

Suresh Raina (C), R Ashwin, S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh (VC), Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel (WK), Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Manoj Tiwary, Shikhar Dhawan.

Source: Yahoo Cricket

“It was not fatigue at all. It is the mental preparation level…to be in the same scenario…to be 100 per cent for a (warm-up) game,” Dhoni clarified ahead of the second warm-up match against New Zealand tomorrow.

“We are more used to prepare for a game 100 per cent and all of a sudden you have to prepare for a warm-up game which I have not played many, right from the start of my career from school cricket or district,” he explained.

“It was a different scenario and you have to prepare differently.

Source: PTI

Praveen, 24 had been sent back immediately from South Africa as a precautionary measure to recuperate at the NCA. The recovery did not go as planned, however, and he consulted Dr Andrew Wallace, a London-based surgeon who has treated many Indian players including Sachin Tendulkar. Praveen has been a regular with the Indian one-day side for the past couple of years and was set to be a certain starter in the World Cup, but his injury healed too slowly to allow him to participate in the global tournament.

Sreesanth has established himself in the Test side but has been on the fringes of the one-day outfit. He has played only 51 one-dayers in more than five years since his debut in 2005, and has a bloated career economy rate of 6.01. But he proved effective in the two ODIs he’s played over the past 12 months, bagging seven wickets for 77 runs.

The other fast bowlers in the Indian squad are Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Munaf Patel.

Source: ESPN EMEA Ltd.

Sakshi Singh Rawat’s name poped up in the news two years earlier itself, but later this matter was not highlighted much. She is 23 years old and she studied Hotel Management from Aurangabad’s Institute of Hotel Management. She is a daughter of IPS Officer, who is presently working in Assam. It is reported that they started dating since two years, when Dhoni met her at the front desk of Kolkata’s Taj Bengal hotel.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Sakshi Singh Rawat Pictures

Under the provision of grant of honorary rank by Armed Forces to eminent personalities acknowledging their contribution towards the nation, the Hon’ble President and the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of India is pleased to confer Shri Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar the honorary rank of Group Captain of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

In recognition of Sachin’s glorious achievements as a cricketer and sports icon par excellence, IAF had mooted a proposal to confer the honorary rank of Group Captain. Besides the recognition, his association with the IAF will motivate the younger generation to join the Air Force to serve the country.

Accepting the honour, Sachin, who is presently out of the country, expressed his pleasure over the honour being bestowed. “It is indeed a great honour that I have been considered for the honorary rank of Group Captain in the Indian Air Force. As an Indian, I am very proud to be associated with this Dynamic Force and I shall do my very best to be a brand ambassador for the IAF.”

Expressing his eagerness to interact with the air warriors, he said, “I am looking forward to familiarizing myself with the Indian Air Force. I once again salute the Indian Air Force for this great honour bestowed on me”.

Till date 21 persons have been granted the honorary ranks from Flight Lieutenant to Air Marshal. The last person to be conferred the honorary rank of Air Commodore was Shri Vijaypat Singhania on 08 Oct 90.

Source: NDTV Cricket

The Subrato Roy-headed industrial conglomerate will pay Rs 3.34 crore per international match to have their logo displayed on the Team India jersey.

“Sahara India Financial Corporation has been awarded the Indian team (Seniors) Title Sponsorship Rights, for the period 1 July 2010 to 31 December 2013,” BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan said in a statement.

“The BCCI will be paid Rs. 3.34 crore per Test/ODI/T20 International during this period,” the statement added.

Sahara Group’s original contract with the BCCI expired last year. The company spent Rs 400 crore over a four-year period for team sponsorship.

They came to the BCCI’s rescue when no bids were received for the team sponsorship six months ago and continued their support for the period. Their renewed contract was to expire next month.

Under the existing contract, Sahara was paying Rs 1.9 crore per Test, Rs 2.08 crore per ODI and Rs 1.56 crore per Twenty20 International, the BCCI said.

The group was locked in a two-way race for the renewed rights with Bharti Airtel.

The two were the only firms left in the fray, although four others including electronic giants Videocon, had also purchased the bid form.

Sahara and Airtel submitted the requisite security deposit of Rs 50 crore along with the form at the end of deadline while the other firms excused themselves from the race due to the steep base price of Rs 2.5 crore per match.

The Cricket Board had published a tender notice calling for bids for the Indian men’s team, women’s team, India A squad and the under 19 squad and the deadline to submit security deposit ended on Sunday.

Source: Times of India