History of Cricket

The first cricket match was played in 1709 between the teams of London and Kent. The golden era of Cricket emerged in 1760,
when the first England Cricket Club, namely Hembuldon club, was formed. In 1787 MCC (Melbourne Cricket Club) was
constituted. The first test match was played in 1877 between Australia and England in Melbourne. Australia won it. The imperial
cricket conference was formed in 1909. It was changed to ICC in 1965. First, a day match was played on January 5, 1971.
Britishers are credited with introducing Cricket in India. In 1792 (Now Kolkata) Calcutta cricket club was formed. India played its
first test match in 1932 against England. Cricket World Cup was introduced in the year 1975 in England.

Measurments and specifications of equipments

Specifications Measurments
Number of players in Cricket team 11 + 5 (extra) 16
Number of umpires in a Cricket match 2 + 1 (Third umpire)
Weight of the Cricket ball 5 1/2 to 5 3/4 ounces (156 gm)
Circumference of Cricket ball 8 inch to 9 inch (22.4 cm to 22.9 cm)
Length of the Cricket bat 38 inch (96.5 cm)
The widest part of Cricket bat 4 1/4 inches (10.8 cm)
The breadth of pitch on both side from 4 feet 4 inch central wicket
Distance of stumps from one side to other 22 yards
Breadth of wickets 9 inches
Colour of ball White for night and red for day time
Number of scorers 2
Time to change the batsman 2 minutes
Time for changing every innings 10 minutes
Types of matches 20-20, one day, three days, five days
Height of wicket from ground 28 inches
Radius of small circle 27.4 m
Radius of boundary 68.58 m

General Rules

1. Players:
(i) Cricket is played among two teams and each team has 11 players.
(ii)Match is always started by toss and captain of each team announces the names of players before the toss.
2. Extra players:
An extra player can replace the nominated player in a game if the player gets ill or for some other reasons, but with prior
permission of umpire. Umpire may permit extra player to :
(i) Field if nominated gets injured,
(ii) Run if the batsman gets injured If a player leaves the ground to change his shoes or clothing, extra player would not replace
that player. Extra player can’t do batting, bowling or wicket keeping.
 Other Rules

o 1. Captain of batting team may declare the inning closed at any time during the match.
o 2. 6 balls are bowled in an over. “No ball” and wide balls are not counted in an over.
o 3. If a fielder catches the ball, before it hits the ground after a stroke, then the batsman will be out provided that the fielder is inside
the boundary line.
o 4. Rule of three power play has been introduced to replace the field restrictions for 15 overs.
o 5. If a player takes more than 2 minutes to reach the crease after a batsman is declared out, he will be declared as out.
o 6. A player who is found handling the ball will be declared out.
o 7. Inner edge of the boundary line is considered as the end of boundary line.

Terminology

Column- 1 Column- 2 Column- 3

Bails rubber ashes
dead ball extra (sundries) wicket
fine leg square leg gully
mid-off mid-on mid-wicket
batsman bowler short leg
slip cover extra cover
third man googly off spin
leg spin flight in swing

Important tournaments

1. Irani Trophy (Ranji winner – Rest of India)

2. Ashes Cup (Australia – England Test series)
3. Duleep Trophy (Inter zonal tournament)
4. Devdhar Trophy (Limited over Inter zonal tournament)
5. Ranji Trophy (Inter zonal tournament)
6. Cooch Bihar Trophy (Inter zonal tournament for boys under 19 years)
7. C.K. Naidu Trophy
8. Vijay Merchant Trophy (Boys under 15 years)
9. Rani Jhansi Trophy (Inter zonal Tournament, women)
10. Indira Priyadarshini Trophy (One day, women)
11. ICC Trophy (One day)
12. Australian Cup (One day)
13. Champions Trophy (One day)
14. Sharjah Cup (One day)
15. World Cup Twenty-Twenty
Venues

Indian

Stadium City
Eden Garden Kolkata
Wankhede Stadium Mumbai
Nehru Stadium Indore
Firoj shah Kotla Delhi
P.C.A. Mohali
Green park Kanpur

International

Stadium Country
Lords, Leads, Trent Bridge England
Melborne, Perth, Sydney Australia
Johanesberg, Durban South Africa
Kingston West Indies
Sinhali Srilanka

SPORTS AWARDEES

Arjuna Awardees

Year Awardee
2008 Gautam Gambhir
2009 Jhulan Goswami
2011 Zaheer Khan
2012 Yuvraj Singh
2013 Virat Kohli
2014 Ravichandran Ashwin

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (/məˈheɪndrə ˈsɪŋ dhæˈnɪ/ ( listen); born 7 July 1981) is an Indian former professional cricketer who
was captain of the Indian national cricket team in limited-overs formats from 2007 to 2017 and in Test cricket from 2008 to
2014. He is a right handed wicket-keeper batsman.[3] He led the team to three ICC trophies including the 2007 ICC World
Twenty20, 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup and 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. Under his captaincy, India won the ACC Asia
Cup two times, in 2010 and 2016. India also won ICC Test Championship Mace two times in 2010, 2011 and ICC ODI Shield
for one time in 2013 under his leadership. He is considered as one of the greatest Captains and Wicket Keeper-Batsmen of all
time.[4][5][6][7][8][9] Throughout his 15 year long international career, Dhoni has won several awards and accolades.[10][11][12][13]
In Indian domestic cricket he played for Bihar and Jharkhand Cricket team. He is the captain of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in
the Indian Premier League. He captained the side to championships in the 2010, 2011, 2018 and 2021 editions of IPL league.
Also under his captaincy Chennai Super Kings (CSK) Won Champions League T20 two times, in 2010 and 2014.
Dhoni made his ODI debut on 23 December 2004, against Bangladesh in Chittagong,[14] and played his first Test a year later
against Sri Lanka.[15] He played his first T20I also a year later against South Africa.[16] In 2007, he took over the ODI captaincy
from Rahul Dravid and he also selected as T20I captain of India in this year.[17] In 2008, he was selected as Test Captain.[18] His
captaincy record in this format was mixed, successfully leading India to a series win against New Zealand in 2008 and
the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (home series in 2010 and 2013) against Australia while losing to Sri Lanka, Australia, England,
and South Africa by big margins in away conditions.[19]
He announced his retirement from Test format on 30 December 2014, [20] and stepped down as captain of T20Is and ODIs in
2017. On 15 August 2020, Dhoni retired from all formats of international cricket and continues to play in the IPL
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar AO BR (/ˌsʌtʃɪn tɛnˈduːlkər/ ( listen); pronounced [sət͡ʃin t̪eːɳɖulkəɾ]; born 24 April 1973) is an
Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in
the history of cricket.[4]
Tendulkar took up cricket at the age of eleven, made his Test match debut on 15 November 1989 against Pakistan in Karachi
at the age of sixteen, and went on to represent Mumbai domestically and India internationally for close to twenty-four years. In
2002, halfway through his career, Wisden ranked him the second-greatest Test batsman of all time, behind Don Bradman, and
the second-greatest ODI batsman of all time, behind Viv Richards.[5] Later in his career, Tendulkar was part of the Indian team
that won the 2011 Cricket World Cup, his first win in six World Cup appearances for India.[6] He had previously been named
"Player of the Tournament" at the 2003 edition of the tournament.
Tendulkar received the Arjuna Award in 1994 for his outstanding sporting achievements, the Khel Ratna Award, India's highest
sporting honour, in 1997, and the Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan awards in 1999 and 2008, respectively, two of India's
highest civilian awards.[7] A few hours after the end of his last match in November 2013, the Prime Minister's Office announced
the decision to award him the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award.[8][9] As of 2021, he is the youngest recipient to date
and was the first sportsperson to receive the award. [10][11] In 2012, Tendulkar was nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the upper
house of the Parliament of India.[12] In 2010, Time magazine included Tendulkar in its annual Time 100 list as one of the most
influential people in the world.[13]
Tendulkar was awarded the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for cricketer of the year at the 2010 ICC Awards.[14] Having retired from
ODI cricket in 2012,[15][16] he retired from all forms of cricket in November 2013 after playing his 200th Test match.[17] Tendulkar
played 664 international cricket matches in total, scoring 34,357 runs.[18]
In 2013, Tendulkar was included in an all-time Test World XI compiled in 2013 to mark the 150th anniversary of Wisden
Cricketers' Almanack, and he was the only specialist batsman of the post–World War II era, along with Viv Richards, to get
featured in the team.[19]
In 2019 he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.[20]
Virat Kohli (Hindi: [ʋɪˈɾɑːʈ ˈkoːɦliː] ( listen); born 5 November[3] 1988) is an Indian international cricketer and former captain of
the India national cricket team. He plays for Delhi in domestic cricket and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier
League as a right-handed batsman. He is often considered one of the best batsmen of his era and is widely regarded as one of
the greatest all-format batsmen of all time [4] Between 2013 and 2022, he captained the India cricket team in 213 matches
across all three formats. With 40 wins out of 68 matches, Kohli is one of the most successful Indian Test captains.[5][6]
Kohli made his Test debut in 2011.[7] He reached the number one spot in the ICC rankings for ODI batsmen for the first time in
2013.[8] He has won Man of the Tournament twice at the ICC World Twenty20 (in 2014 and 2016). He also holds the world
record of being the fastest to 23,000 international runs.[9]
Kohli has been the recipient of many awards– most notably the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Men's Cricketer of the
Decade): 2011–2020; Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year) in 2017 and 2018; ICC Test Player of the
Year (2018); ICC ODI Player of the Year (2012, 2017, 2018) and Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World (2016, 2017 and
2018).[10] At the national level, he was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2013, the Padma Shri under the sports category in
2017[11] and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the highest sporting honour in India, in 2018.[12]
In 2016, he was ranked as one of the world's most famous athletes by ESPN[13] and one of the most valuable athlete brands
by Forbes.[14] In 2018, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.[15] In 2020, he was ranked
66th in Forbes list of the top 100 highest-paid athletes in the world for the year 2020 with estimated earnings of over $26
million.[16]
Sourav Chandidas Ganguly (/sʃuːrəv ɡɛnɡuːlj/ ( listen); natively spelled as Gangopadhyay; born 8 July 1972), affectionately
known as Dada (meaning "elder brother" in Bengali), is an Indian cricket administrator, commentator and former national cricket
team captain who is the 39th and current president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). He is popularly called
as Maharaja of Indian Cricket.[1]
During his playing career, Ganguly established himself as one of the world's leading batsmen and also one of the most
successful captains of the Indian national cricket team.[2][3][4] While batting, he was especially prolific through the off side,
earning himself the nickname God of the Off Side for his elegant stroke play square of the wicket and through the covers.[5]
As a cricketer he played as a left-handed opening batsman and was captain of the Indian national team. He was elected as a
president of the BCCI in 2019.[6][7] and President of the editorial board with Wisden India.[8] Before being elected as the
President of BCCI, he was the President of Cricket Association of Bengal, governing body for cricket in West Bengal, India.
Ganguly was introduced into the world of cricket by his elder brother, Snehasish. He started his career by playing in state and
school teams. After playing in different Indian domestic tournaments, such as the Ranji and Duleep trophies, Ganguly got his
big-break while playing for India on their tour of England. He scored 131 runs and cemented his place in the Indian team.
Ganguly's place in the team was assured after successful performances in series against Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Australia,
winning the Man of the Match awards. In the 1999 Cricket World Cup, he was involved in a partnership of 318 runs with Rahul
Dravid, which remains the highest overall partnership score in the World Cup tournament history.
Due to the match-fixing scandals in 2000 by other players of the team, and for his poor health, Indian captain Sachin
Tendulkar resigned his position, and Ganguly was made the captain of the Indian cricket team. He was soon the subject of
media criticism after an unsuccessful stint for county side Durham and for taking off his shirt in the final of the 2002 NatWest
Series. He led India into the 2003 World Cup final, where they were defeated by Australia. Due to a decrease in individual
performance, he was dropped from the team in the following year. He returned to the National team in 2006, and made
successful batting displays. Around this time, he became involved in a dispute with Indian team coach Greg Chappell over
several misunderstandings. Ganguly was again dropped from the team, however he was selected to play in the 2007 Cricket
World Cup. He is regarded as one of India's most successful captains in modern times, [9] and one of the greatest ODI batsmen
of all time.[10][11][12]
Currently, he is the 8th highest run scorer in One Day Internationals (ODIs) and was the 3rd batsman in history to cross the
10,000 run landmark, after Sachin Tendulkar and Inzamam Ul Haq. In 2002, the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ranked him the
sixth greatest ODI batsman of all time, next to Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Dean Jones and Michael Bevan.[10]
Ganguly joined the Kolkata Knight Riders team as captain for the Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket tournament in 2008.
The same year, after a home Test series against Australia, he announced his retirement from international cricket. He
continued to play for the Bengal team and was appointed the chairman of the Cricket Association of Bengal's Cricket
Development Committee. The left-handed Ganguly was a prolific One Day International (ODI) batsman, with over 11,000 ODI
runs to his credit. He is one of the most successful Indian Test captains to date, winning 21 out of 49 test matches. Sourav
Ganguly is the most successful Indian test captain overseas with 11 wins.[13] The Indian team was ranked eighth in the ICC
rankings before he became the captain, and under his tenure the team rank went up to second. An aggressive captain,
Ganguly is credited with having nurtured the careers of many young players who played under him, and transforming the Indian
team into an aggressive fighting unit.
Along with Harshavardhan Neotia, Sanjiv Goenka, and Utsav Parekh, Ganguly is also the co-owner of Atlético de Kolkata, a
franchise of the Indian Super League, which won the inaugural season in 2014.[14] He was also the brand ambassador of I-
League side Mohammedan Sporting.[15]
Ganguly was awarded the Padma Shri in 2004, one of India's highest civilian awards.[16] Ganguly was awarded with the Banga
Bibhushan Award from the Government of West Bengal on 20 May 2013.[17]
Ganguly is currently a part of the Supreme Court of India appointed Justice Mudgal Committee probe panel for the IPL Spot
fixing and betting scandal's investigations.[18]