The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), it is a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test and One Day International (ODI) status.
The Indian cricket team is currently ranked third by the ICC in Tests and second in ODIs. As of April 7, 2009, the Indian team has played 430 Test matches, winning 99, losing 136 and drawing 194 of its games, with also 1 tied match. India has a relatively better record in One Day Internationals, winning over 50% of matches played. Currently, Gary Kirsten serves as the head coach while Mahendra Singh Dhoni serves as the captain of the Indian cricket team in all forms of the game. Under the leadership of Dhoni, the Indian team has set a country record for most back-to-back ODI wins (9 straight wins) and has emerged as one of the most formidable teams in international cricket.
Though cricket was introduced to India by European merchant sailors in the 18th-century and the first cricket club in India was established in Calcutta in 1792, India's national cricket team didn't play their first Test match until 25 June 1932 at Lord's. They became the sixth team to be granted Test cricket status. In their first fifty years of international cricket, India proved weaker than Australia and England, winning only 35 of the 196 test matches. The team, however, gained strength near the end of the 1970s with the emergence of players such as Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and the Indian spin quartet. Traditionally much stronger at home than abroad, the Indian team has continued to be highly ranked since then in all forms of cricket. It won the Cricket World Cup in 1983 and was runners-up in 2003. It also won the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007. The current team contains many of the world's leading players, including Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid who hold numerous cricketing world records.
Selection for the Indian cricket team occurs through the BCCI's zonal selection policy, where each of the five zones is represented with one selector and one of the members nominated by BCCI as the Chairman of the Selection Committee. This has sometimes led to controversy as to whether these selectors are biased towards their zones.
The current chairman of Selection Committee is Krishnamachari Srikkanth. Yashpal Sharma, Narendra Hirwani, Surendra Bhave and Raja Venkat are the other members of the selection committee. whose terms started in September 2008 with BCCI holding the rights for a one-year extension.
Cricket and Indian Cricket Team players have an iconic status in India. If cricket is a passion then its players drive the passion to new grounds. The Indian cricket team selected by Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) in India represents the country in all the international circuits.
As per the records Indian Cricket Team made its first official tour in the year 1911 and played English County Cricket. In the year 1926, Indian Cricket team joined Imperial Cricket Council (ICC) today known as International Cricket Council.
Indian Cricket team in its first 50 years had players such as Ranjisinhji, KS Duleepsinhji CK Nayudu, Bhagwat Subramanya Chandrashekhar, Bishan Singh Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna, and Srinivas Venkatraghavan on its roll however it could not make substantial headways against international teams. It was in the 1970s when players such as Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Vishwanathan, Kapil Dev, Mohammad Azharuddin, and Dileep Vengaskar joined the team things changed substantially. This new young lot infused the much-needed vigor in the team. The world was stunned when India lifted the Cricket World Cup in 1983 in England.
the 90s the inclusion of players such as Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble, and Rahul Dravid made the Indian Cricket Team one of the most formidable ones. With this team India reached the finals of Cricket World Cup in 2003.
However in 2007 World Cup, the performance of the team was not up to the mark. Despite this setback the Indian cricket team is geared for new challenges with confidence and determination.
