The Gambhir factor

[Aaku]

:hail: :blush:

[Raj_Royal]

:hatsoff:

[ViruRulez]

Hope he breaks Bradman's record

[Karan114]

Gauti maintains his spot at the top of the ICC rankings, 38 points ahead of the next best (Smith). Veeru at 6th place btw

[gaurav92]

Gauti made us all proud :isalute: p.s : Before Gauti, GOD Dada RD and VVS along With Jumbo and Viru has already made us proud

[dial_100]

Last year, in 6 tests, @ 86.6 last 2 years, in 14 tests/27 Innings , scored 2000 runs @ 76.9 with 8 centuries and 7 50s what a growth...Kudos to Indian Cricket.

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[Laaloo]

^^^ Manhooooooooos :mad: :mad: :mad:

[coffee_rules]

Equals WR, I hope he gets a chance to play in the second innings to equal another record.

[vvvslaxman]

Equals WR' date=' I hope he gets a chance to play in the second innings to equal another record.[/quote'] He is a second innings specialist. But i sincerely don't want us to bat second.

[Sachinism]

Don't think he'll get a chance to be in the 2nd innings and if he does, don't know if we'll have many to get

[Guest Hiten.]

:((

[Karan114]

Gauti maintains his spot at the top of the ICC rankings, 38 points ahead of the next best (Smith). Veeru at 6th place btw

Gauti and Veeru retain their positions but God back in the top ten (at no.9)! :two_thumbs_up:

[Sachinism]

Awesome God back closer to where he belongs

[Feed]

Gautam Gambhir opening new chapter for Indian cricket : Dileep Premachandran Since October 2008, he's batted like a man anxious to erase all traces of the years of doubt. More... Gautam Gambhir opening new chapter for Indian cricket Talented opener awaits South Africans with proof that with heart and belief, you can go a long way India's Gautam Gambhir celebrates during the victory over Bangladesh. Photograph: Andrew Biraj/Reuters Consider this line-up. It starts with a man who, along with Matthew Hayden, has been single-handedly responsible for sending new-ball bowlers in the direction of the psychiatrist's couch. Not only does Virender Sehwag have 17 centuries from 74 Tests, including two triples and a 293, but he scores at a rate that most batsmen struggle to match in coloured clothes. Then, consider those that come after him. Had he worn a cap other than India's navy blue, Rahul Dravid would have been Batman himself, rather than Robin to you know who. Even in the one-day format where he was supposed to be as ill-at-ease as a panda in a boudoir, he scored more than 10,000 runs. And what of VVS Laxman? Even if he falls a step short of the pantheon, he could still point to the one innings that was, in terms of technical merit and presentation, cricket's answer to Katerina Witt's Carmen on ice in Calgary. As for you know who, his desire to perform year in, year out is positively Mick Jagger-esque. Just last week, Sachin Tendulkar scored a century in an innings where only one other batsman crossed 23, saving India considerable embarrassment in the process. You could argue that a young man asked to find his niche amid such company should find it easy. Perhaps he faces less pressure than Ian Bell does to score runs. But each time he walks out to bat, he's being judged according to the highest standards. Failure and the long walk back to the pavilion are likely to be accompanied by the kind of glib remark that thoughtless fans are known for: "Oh, he's no Tendulkar". When he first emerged on the scene with a flashy A game and no discernable Plan B – an Indian Phillip Hughes, if you will – few thought that he'd last more than a few Tests. We'd seen an entire generation of opening batsman try to fill a Sunil-Gavaskar-sized void at the top of the order. But for Navjot Singh Sidhu, the eccentric Sardar who went from "strokeless wonder" to pillager of spin, they all failed miserably. Nothing about Gautam Gambhir's game suggested that he would be any different. The romantics didn't warm to him either because his was not the classic rags-to-riches story associated with someone like Vinod Kambli. Gambhir came from a privileged Delhi background, didn't cover himself with bling and certainly didn't have to be fished out of random seedy bars in the middle of the night. After being dropped in December 2005, it took him a couple of years to find his way again. Even after he frog-jumped the likes of Dinesh Karthik and Wasim Jaffer to take his place alongside Sehwag at the top of the order, he gave the impression of a man who played as though every match might be his last. Since October 2008 though, he's batted like a man anxious to erase all traces of the years of doubt. When he scored a second-innings hundred to help set up an emphatic victory over Australia in Mohali, he embarked on the sort of run that has eluded even the legends that bat alongside him. In 11 consecutive Tests, he has scored at least a half-century, giving him equal possession of a record held by Vivian Richards. Gambhir averages 89.89 in those games, with eight hundreds, and if he hadn't been surprised by a superb bouncer from Shafiul Islam, he would have become the only batsman since Sir Donald Bradman to score centuries in six matches on the bounce. Against Bangladesh, his scores were 23, 116 and 68, and he was at the non-striker's end watching as a 10-wicket victory on Wednesday morning gave India a 2-0 series win that was never as straightforward as the scoreline suggests.

[Sachinism]

rest of the article The new generation of Bangladeshi cricketers has tasted success at under-19 level and they aren't cowed by the big names that they come up against. Mohammad Ashraful may have invited Tendulkar and friends home to taste Ilish made the traditional way, but on the field, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Shahadat Hossain don't blink when stared at. Apart from the wealth of batting experience, what swung the scales India's way, literally, was Zaheer Khan. Like Gambhir, Zaheer took time to convince himself and others that he belonged in august company. But since his return from county-cricket exile – second division, no less, with Worcestershire – he has led the line magnificently, despite the support cast changing on a match-by-match basis. Handy with the new ball, he comes into his own with the scuffed up one later in the innings. At Mirpur, Bangladesh went from 290 for 3 to 312 all out as Zaheer, back brace and all, decimated hopes of survival in one over before lunch. Raqibul Hasan shouldered arms to one that came in with the angle from round the wicket and when Mahmudullah, who had scored a stunning 96 in the first dig, failed to cover the away movement two balls later, Murali Vijay dived to his left to take a stupendous catch at second slip. Shafiul had little idea about one that splayed his stumps, and that dismissal was reprised three balls after lunch with Rubel Hossain the victim. Zaheer had 7 for 87, 10 for the match, and all this without poor Bangladesh bringing out the jellybeans that piqued him so at Trent Bridge in 2007. His numbers may not be indicative of a great bowler, but the 101 wickets (at 29.42) in his last 25 Tests have been instrumental in India's steady climb up the rankings. And while Dale Steyn is hailed as the best in the world after traumatising England in conditions far more amenable to swing bowling, Zaheer has had to do it the hard way, bowling his overs on unforgiving subcontinental pitches. Their face-off next week will be decisive in a series that's already been billed as The World Championship of Cricket. Dravid has a broken cheekbone, while Laxman and Yuvraj Singh are nursing hand injuries. India were without Tendulkar in the last series against South Africa, and it's doubtful whether the best XI will be on the park in Nagpur next Wednesday. It shouldn't matter. South Africa have chosen the worst possible time to take a wrecking ball to their cricketing edifice, and whoever steps in to fill the breach for India will be mindful of what Gambhir and Zaheer have achieved in recent times. A little heart, and the belief that you belong, go a long way.

[Block hole]

Gautam Gambhir's extraordinary second-innings run If it's the second innings of a Test and Gautam Gambhir is coming out to bat, chances are he'll help himself to a significant score. His Test career is only 29 matches old, but Gambhir has already built a formidable reputation as a second-innings plunderer: in 23 such innings, he has scored five hundreds, and averages 62.52. Over the years, even top batsmen have found run-scoring more difficult in the second innings than in the first due to a variety of reasons: the match situation can be tense, the pitches have normally deteriorated, and on some occasions there's the fatigue factor that sets in after spending several hours in the field. None of that affects Gambhir, apparently. His first-innings stats aren't ordinary by any definition - he averages 54.20 - but he takes it up a notch when he comes out to bat a second time. In fact, the numbers in his last ten second innings beggars belief: five centuries plus a 97, and a stunning average of 108.37. http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/446908.html

[Holysmoke]

The Gambhir factor by Saurabh Somani India's march towards the top of the heap in the Test tables started in October 2008, which was when Australia toured India for a four-Test series. From the start of that series, till now, India has not lost a single Test match. They have played 14 Test matches starting from then, across three countries and two continents, and have not lost a single one since. India's top seven batsmen in the batting line-up have not changed much since the start of that journey. Sourav Ganguly retired after the Australia series, and hence figured in the first four Test matches, but with Yuvraj Singh replacing him, the line-up of Gambhir, Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Yuvraj and Dhoni has remained more or less constant - barring injuries, suspensions etc. With batting being India's stronger suit by far, it has often been the weight of the runs the batsmen have scored in this period that has either set up wins or prevented defeats. Here is a look at how the top seven performed since October 2008:

Player	Matches	Innings	Not Outs	Runs	Average	Highest	100s	50s
Gambhir	12	23	2	1758	83.71	206	8	5
Sehwag	14	25	1	1244	51.83	293	2	7
Dravid	14	24	2	1149	52.23	177	4	6
Tendulkar	14	24	4	1357	67.85	160	6	5
Laxman	13	22	6	993	62.06	200*	2	8
Yuvraj	10	14	2	532	44.33	86	0	5
Dhoni	12	16	3	847	65.15	110	2	8

Gautam Gambhir clearly dominates the table. He has missed two matches - one due to a suspension when he was provoked into elbowing Shane Watson, and one to attend his sister's marriage - but he still leads the charts in runs scored, average and number of centuries. The others have contributed no doubt, but nobody's contribution has matched the strength and consistency of Gambhir's. Tendulkar has been solid throughout, but has lacked a big innings. Dravid has seen ups and downs - the last of his wretched form was in the first four Tests in this period, after which he re-emerged as the old Dravid. Sehwag has blasted the bowling, but has also self-destructed at some key moments. Laxman has been contributing quietly, but has lacked a match-winning effort (that may be partly due to the position he bats in), while Dhoni has not batted enough, and Yuvraj has not scored enough. Only Gambhir has had all the check-boxes ticked against his name: he has dug in to play a long match-saving innings, he has not endured a single spell of poor form, he has scored match-winning innings, he has always put a premium price on his wicket, and he has scored runs by the buckets against every opposition and in every condition that India have played in during this time period. Further analysis, demonstrates Gambhir's consistency better. Here is a look at how the top seven have performed in matches that India have won and matches that India have drawn:

Player	Matches	Runs	Runs(wins)	Avg(wins)	Runs(draws)	Avg(draws)
Gambhir	12	1758	732	81.33	1026	85.50
Sehwag	14	1244	976	81.33	268	22.33
Dravid	14	1149	480	48.00	669	55.75
Sachin	14	1357	876	97.33	481	43.72
Laxman	13	993	361	40.11	632	90.28
Singh	10	532	248	41.33	284	47.33
Dhoni	12	847	564	80.57	283	47.16

Again, only Gambhir has demonstrated outstanding excellence in both won matches as well as drawn matches. Sehwag has been outstanding in wins and pedestrian in draws; Dravid has been solid in both without being outstanding in either; Tendulkar has shone like no other in victories, but has been middling in draws, while the opposite is true for Laxman. Yuvraj and Dhoni have once again not scored enough and batted enough. Gambhir has revelled in all situations, whether under pressure or free of it, whether setting up a match or finishing it, whether chasing a large target or digging in. The table below illustrates the performance of the top seven in the first Team innings (which comprise the 1st and 2nd innings of the match, depending on when India batted) and the second Team innings (which comprise the 3rd and 4th innings of the match, again depending on when India batted).

Player	Matches	Runs	1st Inns Runs	1st Inns Avg	2nd Inns Runs	2nd Inns Avg
Gambhir	12	1758	862	71.83	896	99.55
Sehwag	14	1244	810	57.85	434	43.40
Dravid	14	1149	934	71.84	215	23.88
Sachin	14	1357	942	72.46	415	59.28
Laxman	13	993	542	45.16	451	112.75
Yuvraj	10	532	242	26.88	290	96.66
Dhoni	12	847	668	60.72	179	89.50

Perhaps nothing encapsulates Gambhir's value to Team India by the figure in "Average in 2nd Inns" column. Gambhir has averaged an astounding 99.55 in the second innings of matches played in the time period. It is almost as on the rare occasions that he has failed in the first innings, he has taken it as a personal insult, and decided to dig in and make the opposition pay for the grave error of dismissing him cheaply! The fact that he is an opener is what makes that average so outstanding. Although Laxman has a higher average, he has had a lot more opportunity than Gambhir to be there when matches end, and thereby get a not out against his name. Gambhir has managed his feat by coming in at the top of the order. Even Bradman would have been impressed. And though Gambhir narrowly failed to emulate Bradman's feat of centuries in six consecutive Tests, he did equal the feat of another batting legend - Viv Richards - in scoring a half-century for the 11th consecutive Test. He will now have a chance to make the record his own if he scores more than fifty in an innings in the first Test against South Africa. At the rate he is going currently, the odds of Gambhir failing to score a fifty should be roughly the same as the odds that Pakistan cricket functions chaos-free for the next six months. Most consecutive fifties in Test cricket:

Player	Matches	Start Date
Vivian Richards	11	23-Jan-76
Gautam Gambhir	11	17-Oct-08
John Edrich	10	10-Jul-69
Everton Weekes	9	27-Mar-48
Alec Stewart	9	20-Jun-96
Matthew Hayden	9	23-Aug-01
Jacques Kallis	9	02-Jan-07

South Africa would do well to take good note of the Gambhir factor in the forthcoming series. © Cricbuzz

[achilles]

Gambhir is the most important factor in the game in terms of batting