GAUTICRICKETER

Right from the time when I started watching cricket in 1997-98, one thing which thrilled me was fast bowling. I was a big fan of Pakistani bowling unit, which comprised of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar. The glorious site of stumps being rattled and batsmen getting themselves saved from the fiery bouncers amused me a lot. To me, aggression was bowling fast. As a teenager, I started understanding the different aspects of game, yet fast bowling had that X factor which attracted me towards this game. When I started following the game closely, I learnt that fast bowling, not only meant bowling at good pace, but also hitting the consistent lengths. In the early 2000s, Brett Lee and Zaheer khan inspired me a lot. Thanks to their unique action. Former was quick, while the latter was more accurate. 2003 World cup was an absolute treat for me. Though batsmen had a lot of knocks to cherish, I can still relive the moments which Indian fast bowlers produced in the tournament. In ad...

In the T20 era ,where the muscles, tattoos and the other style elements establish a player's caliber , a conventional , yet a powerful player from Mumbai made his test debut in 2013. Being made to wait for nearly 16 months , a blessing in disguise in the form of Dhawan's injury paved way for his debut. His technique and temperament which was compared to Sachin Tendulkar by Australian genius Steve Waugh speaks volume about his talent. He is a player who has proved that T20 cricket can also be approached with proper text book stroke play when he smashed six boundaries in a single over in IPL, which is an all time record. Not only in domestic league, he also meant business in International T20 arena when he scored 61 of just 39 deliveries in his T20 debut against England. Though he is multi faceted ,his forte remains to be the longer version of the game .Being the Vice captain of Team India , he is one batsman who can score well at the overseas conditions. He has the ability to ba...

Kannaur Lokesh Rahul , an elegant modern day opener who can keep wickets as well ,looks rock solid with his defence ,and looks even more attractive when he takes on the bowlers.He was looked as one of the future prospects of Indian team after his decent show at U-19 WC in 2010.He had a great outing in 2013-14 Ranji season ,scoring a tally of 1033 runs at an impressive average .This earned him a test call to the Indian team.Due to Dhawan's form slump ,he got promoted as an opener in his debut series.He proved his worth in his second test which turned out to be a indelible one for him against a stellar pace attack of Starc,Hazlewood and Harris at a seaming Sydney wicket.He was batting at the back of two failures ,which could have easily got to his head. But he composed his innings to perfection for a well compiled century. He has a easy to go stance,with a steady head popping towards the bowler,which allows him to watch the ball till the last moment. Watch :  KLRahul a...

It was the Australian summers of 2011-12. Team India had a tough time in the tour ,being humiliated by the Aussies .Adding fuel to the misery , MSD had a suspension due to slow over rate in the third test match.Viru took over the captaincy and when asked to bat second ,with a mighty score to negate ahead ,Indian batsmen fell cheaply for an yet another time in the tour .When Virat came into bat ,India had already lost the likes of Sehwag , Tendulkar and Dravid with a huge deficit of 500. But the way Kohli orchestrated his innings was a sheer masterclass.It all began with a fine flick towards the square leg which marked his arrival to the International level . He was authoritative with his shots,and he progressed well at his end while others were just a pack of cards for the Australian bowling unit,with Saha offering a bit of resistance.The pulls were executed well ,while the drives were elegant on the eye to watch. To me , it will be always remembered as one of the best innings of Kohl...

1. 111* vs WI - WANKHEDE,MUMBAI A debut against WI and a well-made 177 in his debut. But what followed that was a platform for the “The Master” to retire. Entire world was eyeing this test match. Sachin was well cruising over a 50+ score. Shots were so elegant, but to everyone’s shock, Sachin edged himself to Darren Sammy who was at first slip. . Kohli walked in and scored a brisk cover drive off his first ball for a boundary… Wait…. I was talking about “The Hitman”. ain’t I!! The audacity of the match was such huge. Rohit entered at the score of 318/4 with MSD departing. Right from the word go, he was very positive in his attacking approach. With centurion Pujara departing at the other end, Ashwin joined Rohit at the middle. They both were almost scoring at a rate of 6.5 per over. But when Ashwin departed for a quickfire 30 off 32 deliveries, Rohit was 60 runs short of his century. Both Bhuvi and Ojha departed in quick succession. He was left with Shami at the other end to get hi...