What are some of the best decisions taken by a captain in cricket history that changed a player's career?

 April 1st 1999

A 21-year-old Virender Sehwag came to bat in the middle-order in Mohali to face the deadly Pakistani bowling attack.

Out! He went back after scoring only one run.

That debut was a nightmare.

The selectors were not impressed. Sehwag wasn’t picked in the team for a year.

December 2000

A better-equipped Sehwag was now recalled for the Zimbabwe series at home as a middle-order batsman. He scored only 19 runs.

Not very impressive.

The selectors were disappointed. Sehwag was dropped again.

“Select that guy for only 1 match against Australia. Let’s see what he does,” Ganguly sent a message to the selectors.

March 2001

The selectors considered Ganguly’s words.

Australia toured India. This Indian batting line-up had stars, not cricketers. Ganguly and Sachin opened, followed by Laxman and Dravid. Barring Ganguly, the rest made decent scores.

You know who made the headlines? Sehwag who came in 6th position. He scored 58(54).

“Let’s give him more chances,” Ganguly informed the selectors.

June 2001

Sehwag was selected for his first overseas tour as a middle-order batsman.

DISASTER!

His performances were disastrous. A majority were single-digit scores. He might have averaged less than 7 in 6 matches.

Ganguly had to face the ire of the coach and the selectors after every match.

“What is wrong with you? That guy doesn’t know how to approach the innings, has little match awareness and plays risky shots”, Ganguly was asked this after every match.

Ganguly always said, “Please wait.”

One day, ahead of a match against New Zealand, Ganguly walked up to Sehwag. Ganguly said, “You will open the innings today”. Sehwag replied, “No Dada. You know my style, it is more suited for the middle-order.” Ganguly responded, “I’m not asking you, I’m informing you.”

Sehwag opened the innings that day. He scored a slow-paced 33 runs.

The selectors again started bashing Ganguly. Ganguly didn’t respond now.

Two disappointing performances from Sehwag followed. Ganguly didn’t utter a word.

Sehwag scored a quick-paced century in the next match. Ganguly smiled.

He now started putting up consistent performances.

Sehwag then cemented his position as an opener for the Indian team and now is said to be one of the greatest openers this country has seen.

That’s the difference between Ganguly and other captains. Other captains made plans to win the match, but Ganguly made plans for the next few years instead.

Ganguly always played the long game, the game of patience, and this game changed the career of Virender Sehwag.

What are some mind-blowing facts about cricket?

 I don't know if anyone has answered these points but still I would like to tell you these hard to believe facts in cricket.

1. If anyone asks you which cricketer has been bowled out maximum times in cricket the cricketer on which no one would ever point an arrow is Rahul Dravid. Yeah you guessed it right it's Rahul David the wall who has this interesting record. He has been bowled 54 times in cricket the highest by any cricketer.

2. This has happened only once in test cricket that to complete an over three bowlers were used.

During a test match between Sri Lanka and West Indies in 2001 while bowling his third over Mervyn Dillon after two balls, he got a stomach pain due to which he had to leave the ground to pavilion. To complete his over Colin Stuart was called for who after delivering one ball correctly bowled two beamers consecutively and was removed by the umpires. And then to complete the remaining three balls young Chris Gayle was used.

3. Three centuries in one test.

No, I am not talking about the centuries made but the hundredth test of three players in a single game.

In 2006 the first test match between South Africa and New Zealand was the 100th test match for three players namely Jacques Kallis, Stephen Fleming and Shaun Pollock .

Interestingly Kallis made exactly 100runs(38+62) in that test match.

4. Have you ever heard any cricketer RETIRED NOT OUT after the completion of the test match. This is the only incidence in international cricket when this happened.

During a test match between India and West Indies in 1983 , when Gordon Greenidge was batting on 154* he got to know that his daughter's health is not good. He went to see her and after the fall of 9 wickets he was declared retired hurt out according to the rules as he didn't come again for batting. After the departure of him the news came that his daughter was no more.

So, this emotional decision was taken with everyone's consensus that he would be shown RETIRED HURT NOT OUT in the score card of that test match.

What are some rare pictures that we have never seen in cricket?

 

1. A picture perfect front foot defence from Steve Waugh.

2. Sir Don slashing one off the back foot.

3. Sam Loxton drops Trevor Bailey off Jack Iverson on day five in Brisbane, 1950

4. Ian Davis takes on the WSC West Indies in 1979 Kerry Packer’s World Series.

5. Brian Lara’s 400 moment

5. Ashes 1956

6. Whispering death in action

7. NZ going for the kill against Eng in the last session

8. Denis Lille in full flow

9. Shane Warne celebrating The ball of the century.

10. That famous first ball of Ashes 2006/07

11. A truly rare picture of Dravid in a heated argument.

12. India’s squad for their test debut.

13. A nasty bouncer

14 .Ranjitsingji in action.

15. Dacca 1959 , East Pakistan

Edit 1 -

16. Jon Snow in action @ the WACA.

17. The newspapers covering the infamous Body line series.

18. The white lightning strikes (WC 1996)

19. You know who

20. The Australian team(1878)

21. Muhammad Ali executing a different sought of punch

22. Will we get to see a better ODI team than the celebrating one ?

Image Credits - ESPN Cricinfo and Cricket Australia

What are some epic photos from Indian Cricket?

 I'll try to maintain a chronological order

• Debut of Legends at Lord's- Ganguly and Dravid (1996)

• Sachin's century after his father's death (1999 WC)

• When Anil Kumble bowled despite a broken jaw (2002 vs Windies)

• The epic Kolkata test (2001 vs Aussies)

• Sourav Ganguly's T-Shirt revenge: Full on Dadagiri (2002 Natwest)

• Adelaide Test: One man Standing- When Dravid roared (2003)

• Sehwag scored 1st triple century (2004 vs Pakistan)

• T-20 triumph: Who will forget those six 6s (2007)

• When Dhoni asked Ganguly to captain the team- one last time (2008)

• Sachin: 1st man to get a double century in ODI (2010 vs South Africa)

• WC Quarter-Final: When Yuvraj roared like a lion (2011 vs Aussies)

• WC final: A dive which defines Gambhir’s character | What a knock! (2011)

• WC winners: That final six!! MS Dhoni (2011) | Legend’s epic saga of glory

---

• When our heros retired
• Kumble, the first one to go (2008)

• Followed by the Prince of Kolkata (2008)

• The Wall too went behind the curtains (2012)

• When the 4th innings specialist hung up his boots (2012)

• The ultimate moment (2013)

• Love him or hate him, he's the most succesful test skipper for India: When MS Dhoni retired from the whites (2014)

• India's best left-arm pacer ever, the workhorse and WC'11 joint highest wicket-taker: When Zaheer Khan called it a day (2015)

• One of the most flamboyant openers in world cricket and a true match winner: When Virender Sehwag walked into sunset (2015)

---

Life after the golden Era:

• Targets to Chase: Call Virat (The new generation superstar)

• T20 WC’16 Semis: It’s not just about glory, some defeats make you stronger than wins; When Virat Kohli gave it all, but India still couldn’t cross the line.

Image Source: All images are courtsey of Google, what else!