Cricket is not just a sport in India, it is the country's love and passion. Everyone loves to play Cricket throughout the country and India has produced many legendary batsmen including Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar. After the 1983 World Cup triumph, the Indian team has recently tasted a lot of success such as the 2011 World Cup. Apart from the International Cricket, BCCI conducts the biggest sporting franchise in the world, the Indian Premier League.
Major Achievements
1983 World Cup
The greatest achievement for Indian Cricket is the success when Kapil Dev's team defeated the mighty West Indies and lifted the 1983 World Cup. After winning the last two World Cups, West Indies were the favorites to lift the Cup once more, however the Indian team had other plans.
In the Final, as expected, Michael Holding and Joel Garner delivered an impressive bowling performance. The Indian team was back to pavilion at the score of just 183 runs. The Indian bowling exploited the conditions well and sent the strong West Indian batting lineup back to pavilion at 140 runs. The underdogs, India, defeated the invincible West Indian team, surprising everyone.
2011 World Cup
Cricket India lifted the Cup for the 2nd time in history, a feat only the West Indies and Australia had achieved earlier. On familiar pitch conditions, the Indian batting looked impregnable even against strong bowling attacks. The Indian team defeated Sri Lanka in the Final by 6 wickets, and took home the Cup.
Major Records
Leading Run Scorer and Most Hundreds - Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar is arguably one of the greatest batsmen India has produced, and is even compared to the great Don Bradman. His statistics seem unreal, as he has the record of scoring 51 hundreds in Tests, and making 49 hundred in the ODIs. He is the only batsman in the history to have made a combined total of 100 centuries in both the formats. Not only this, he is highest run scorer in both ODIs and Test matches, with 18,246 and 15,921 runs.
Maximum Double Hundreds
All the batsmen who have made double centuries in ODIs belong to India. Sachin Tendulkar made the first double century of Cricket history in just 147 balls against South Africa. In 2012, Virender Sehwag smashed 219 of just 140 balls against West Indies. Finally, Rohit Sharma's 209 against Australia was the third double century in the history of the sport.
The Big 3
In the beginning of 2014, India along with Australia and England, proposed a restructuring of the ICC hierarchy. The "Big Three" have now officially become the major stakeholders of the World Cricket. Many boards accepted the proposal due to promises of increased revenue sharing by ICC. Even though Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka originally opposed this proposal, they are all onboard now due to immense foreign pressure. This gives considerable power to India, Australia and England Cricket boards. India has rights to most of the revenues, as other teams will enjoy more freedom in tournament participation.
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