INDIAN CRICKET HOME SEASON 2016-17

Hi Everyone!!
As we look down the past 10-12 months of cricketing journey for INDIAN CRICKET TEAM playing 13 test matches on the home soil for the very first time in a single season, you seriously need to acknowledge the team's super effort and cricketing action that we witnessed in the entire season. Th team has left everybody in aww with their performance and have forced everyone to bow down and respect their performance in the recent time which also led them to no. 1 spot in ICC test match rankings.
The VIRAT KOHLI led side showed determination and had the hunger and capability to win test matches . This team certainly makes this longest form of cricket more fashionable at least in INDIA.

                        HOME SEASON 2016-17:

INDIA VS NEW ZEALAND
3 TEST MATCHES
5 ONE-DAY INTERNATIONALS

INDIA VS ENGLAND
5 TEST MATCHES
3 ONE-DAY INTERNATIONALS
3 T-20 INTERNATIONALS

INDIA VS BANGLADESH
ONE-OFF TEST MATCH

INDIA VS AUSTRALIA
4 TEST MATCHES
This was the complete long home season which featured six new test venues : INDORE , PUNE , RANCHI , DHARAMSALA , RAJKOT , VISHAKHAPATNAM

The thing that was standout for INDIA was that the pitches were not in favor of our spinners, so we won matches on the basis of our team's capability and not because of our home conditions .Also their were six new test venues , even the INDIAN team was alien to those conditions in terms of pace,bounce and dryness of the wicket, so it was important to adapt to those conditions and make the team selection and strategies accordingly which we did very convincingly and the credit must go to the captain and the coach.

THE MAINSTAYS:
After the retirement of MS DHONI from the test cricket , this team has been on the rebuilding phase but after a successful home season we can easily say that this young INDIAN cricket team has found few mainstays around which we can built
a even more stronger side. Players like VIRAT KOHLI , AJINKYA RAHANE , CHETESHWAR PUJARA and RAVICHNDRAN ASHWIN are now the core and the senior members of the team. These players had a vital role to play in the entire home season.

KOHLI found himself to be first captain to score 4 double hundreds in 4 consecutive series amassing over 1200 runs in the season. ASHWIN was once again the leader of the INDIAN attack as he took 82 wickets at an average of about 25 and even scored runs with the bat justifying his role of an all rounder in the team. Highlight in the season was the 'DEPENDABLE' PUJARA who started this season with a question on his ability to regain his test spot of no. 3 but the way he held the batting lineup was a class to watch.

We witnessed the old elegant PUJARA who was the leading run scorer for INDIA in the season scoring over 1300 runs with a very hefty batting average and at the end of the series he finds himself to be the 2nd ranked batsmen in the ICC TEST rankings going past VIRAT KOHLI and JOE ROOT . One player who would think missed a chance to score big runs as per his level of consistency was AJINKYA RAHANE , he could just score about 700 runs in the entire season as he was out for couple of matches due to finger injury but nevertheless still remains to be the backbone of INDIAN TEST TEAM .

FINDS OF THE SEASON :
A team does well for a long period of time only if there are contributions from each and every individual in some or the other way. So has been the case with this INDIAN team .Despite of some key players it has been an all round team effort where players like RAVINDRA JADEJA , WRIDDHIMAN SAHA and UMESH YADAV have stepped up to numerous ocassion to help INDIA be the no. 1 ranked test side in the world.

JADEJA was thought to be a bowler who could bowl on pitches which would assist spin but this season in the right sense JADEJA has found the real bowler in him. He made 71 scalps in the entire season with a mere bowling average of 22.83 , also scored more than 500 runs and specially those runs came at crucial stages for the team . He has definitely evolved himself from the shadows of his bowling partner ASHWIN and even managed to displace him from the no. 1 bowler in ICC test rankings .

SAHA , without any doubt is the best INDIAN wicket keeper as far as the INDIAN pitches are concerned but slowly and gradually he is making a mark with his batting and impressing one and all. He averaged well above 45 and scored more than 600 runs in the season including two crucial hundreds. He seems to have learnt about batting with the tail and also has evolved as a batsmen along with being a excellent wicket keeper.

INDIAN pitches are not known to assist fast bowlers as they do it to the spinners as there is not considerable pace, swing and bounce. Inspite of all these factors UMESH YADAV has been one of the key highlights from the entire season . He managed to play 12 of the 13 test matches accumulating 30 wickets out of which 17 came against the AUSSIES who are known to be good players of fast bowling. One thing that impressed one and all was his fitness as he played in 12 matches and every time he would ran in to bowl he would clock 145+ kmph , without a kilometer being decreased in the entire season .