India national cricket team

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 theInternational Cricket Council (ICC) with Test and One Day International (ODI) status.

The Indian cricket team is currently ranked first (as of 15 October 2010) by the ICC in Tests and second (as of 15 October 2010) in ODIs.^[3] As of October 2010, the Indian team has played 442 Test matches, winning 107, losing 138 and drawing 196 of its games, with 1 match ending in a tie.^[4] India has a relatively better record in One Day Internationals, winning 52% of matches played. Currently, Gary Kirsten is the head coach while Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the captain in all forms of the game.^[5] Under the leadership of Dhoni, the Indian team has set a national record for most back-to-back ODI wins (9 straight wins)^[6] and has emerged as one of the most formidable teams in international cricket.^[7]

Recently in october 2010 India whitewashed australia in tests series thus in process becoming the first team after a gap of 28 years doing whitewash to australia.

Although 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.^[8] They became the sixth team to be granted Test cricket status.^[9] In their first fifty years of international cricket, India proved weaker than Australia and England, winning only 35 of the 196 test matches.^[10] The team, however, gained strength near the end of the 1970s with the emergence of players such as Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Mohammed Azharuddin and the Indian spin quartet. Traditionally much stronger at home than abroad, the Indian team has improved its overseas form since the start of the 21st century. It won the Cricket World Cup in 1983 and was runners-up in 2003 under Sourav Ganguly. It also won the inaugural World Twenty20 under Mahendra Singh Dhoni 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.^[11]