The Captain Cool - The Finisher - The Legend - Happy 39th Birthday Mahi

-



A young guy with long golden hairs & with the reputation of a big hitter walked out to bat for the very first time in ODI Cricket on 23rd December 2004 against Bangladesh at no. 7. And everyone knows that not every start turns out to be a good start & same happened with MSD too. He got run out on the very first ball he faced. His next 3 scores were 12, 7* and 3. Everyone said that he won't be able to perform at the top level, his batting and keeping technique isn't good. Why is he still playing? And then came the 2nd ODI against Pakistan at Visakhapatnam. The date was April 5, 2005. The Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly won the toss and chose to bat. India lost Sachin Tendulkar in the 4th over. And what happened next was very surprising. Sourav Ganguly promoted MSD in place of him at no.3. And the young lad with long golden hairs gave a mouth shutting reply to his critics and went on to score a brilliant 148 off just 123 deliveries which included 15 fours and 4 sixes and since then he never looked back.

He won 3 ICC Trophies (ICC T-20 World Cup 2007, ICC ODI World Cup 2011 & ICC Champions Trophy 2013), 3 IPL Trophies (2010, 2011, 2018), 2 Champions League T20 trophies (2010, 2014), 2 Asia Cups (2010, 2016) as a captain & also took the Indian team to the no. 1 spot in test cricket in 2009. He also won the ICC ODI player of the year twice in 2008 & 2009 and also got selected in the ICC World ODI XI for the record 8 times out of which 5 times as a skipper. He was also named the captain of ICC World test XI in 2009, 2010 & 2013. He also won the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 2007,  the Padma Shree in 2009 and the Padma Bhushan in 2018.

Here are a few more things about MSD you must know:-

  1. He has played the most no. of international matches as a captain - 332
  2. He is the only wicketkeeper to effect 150+ stumpings across the 3 formats.
  3. He also holds the record of playing the most T-20I innings without scoring a duck - 84 Innings
  4. He holds the record of most not outs in ODI cricket - 82 Not Outs
  5. He was the first player to reach 10000 runs in ODI Cricket with a career average of 50+


Wishing the Captain Cool, the Finisher, the quickest Wicket Keeper,  the master of DRS and more than that a brilliant human being, a day filled with happiness & a year filled with joy. I wish him a very happy and prosperous life ahead, both on and off the field. Happy 39th Birthaday Mahi!

Comments

Post a Comment

If you guys have any doubt or query, please let me know.

Popular posts from this blog

The 1983 World Cup Final - The Most Iconic Moment In The History Of Indian Cricket

-
Image
When on 24th June 1983, a day before the World Cup final, the Indian team had a look at the pitch, it was green as if it was prepared for the mighty West-Indian pace attack that included Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall and Michael Holding. The West Indian team was playing its 3rd consecutive final whereas the Indian team was playing its 1st final. The next morning, on 25th June 1983, the West Indian captain Clive Lloyd won the toss and invited the Indian team to bat first. The West Indian pace attack didn't disappoint their skipper and dismissed the whole Indian team on the score of just 183 runs in 54.4 overs. West Indies were all set to lift their 3rd consecutive Trophy. Everything was in their favour. The score was small and their batsman were in great form too. And then came the inspirational words from the Indian skipper who said, "We have already scored 183 runs and they still have to score those runs. We should give resistance and not give away the...
Read more

Top 5 IPL moments

-
Image
If everything would have been normal, we must have been enjoying the IPL by now. But yes we can't control the nature. IPL in India is a festival. It has been a great 12 years of journey with a lot of memories. Here in this blog we will talk about the top 5 IPL moments yet - 5. McCullum's curtain raiser @158* - It was just an experiment done to start the IPL. There were a lot of doubts about this format and what happened next. In the very first game, Brendon McCullum walked out to bat for KKR almost smashed to every part of the ground scored a  magnificent 158* of just 73 deliveries against RCB and it cleared all the doubts about the IPL's future. What a start that was to the IPL. 4. MI chasing 190 in just 14.3 overs - How often have you seen Rahul Dravid angry. That was one of the few moments when he got angry and he actually through his cap in anger after the last ball. It was RR vs MI and a place in playoffs was on the line. RR batted first and sco...
Read more

Virat Kohli & The ICC Knockout Matches - Does he choke in big knockout games?

-
Image
The modern-day great, the white-ball legend, the master of a run-chase and a guy who score runs for fun as if it is a daily routine for him and in the process he fails in 2-3 knockout games & all of a sudden a lot of people start questioning his calibre & his potential. A lot of people start abusing him and his family. Is this the right thing to do? Does he even choke in ICC knockout games? A lot of people without knowing a lot of things start uttering shits that India lost the 2015 and 2019 world cup and 2017 Champions Trophy because of Virat Kohli. For your information, in the run chase of 329 against Australia in the semi final of 2015 world cup, Virat Kohli got out after just scoring 1 run. Also in the run chases of 2017 Champions Trophy final & 2019 World Cup semi final Virat Kohli got out on the scores of 5 and 1 respectively. Those numbers are definitely not good. But  a lot of people start judging him on the basis of these scores only. Are these the only...
Read more