There is no denying the fact that cricket in India shot into the limelight when the 'Haryana Hurricane', Kapil Dev, and his 'Devils ' picked up the World Cup in 1983, beating the mighty West Indians. From there on the face of Indian cricket changed forever. We were looked upon as a force to reckon with.
The World Cup feat has never been replicated. The closest India came was at the 2003 edition of the World Cup in South Africa. It was Sourav Ganguly and his boys who went on to beat every team on its way to the finals against the reigning champions Australia. Those were the days of the 'Big Three': Sachin, Sourav and Dravid. The 'Big Three' have not been in the news much recently. In the Indian Premier League (IPL) the 'who-you?' became heroes and many heroes became 'who-you?'
For 'Bengal Tiger' Sourav Ganguly, his comeback has been his crowning glory. In 32 ODIs he got 12 half centuries with 98 being his highest score, at an average of an enviable 44.28. In Test matches, his return to international cricket was front-page news of every newspaper in the country. In 10 Test matches played in 2007, he amassed 1106 runs at a staggering average of 61.44. The tally included three centuries and four half-centuries.
Even after the amazing run, Dada was ignored for the ODI series played in Australia. His last newsworthy knock was against Australia in Nagpur where he scored 86. The last time he played an ODI was on November 15, 2007, against the touring Pakistan team in Gwalior.
For India's text-book batsman, Rahul Dravid, life has not been that easy. In 2007 he played 31 ODIs wherein he notched up a mere 823 runs with a not-so-bad average of 37.40 and eight half centuries. Cricket burdened its scrupulous student and even Test cricket provided no respite. He could manage only two centuries from the beginning of 2007 until the last test he played in April, 2008.
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