About Indian Cricket Team

India national cricket team

India
India cricket crest
Test status acquired	1932
First Test match	v  England at Lord's,London, 25–28 June 1932
Captain	Virat Kohli (Test) MS Dhoni (ODI & T20I)
Coach	Vacant
Current ICC Test,ODI and T20Iranking	5th (Test) 2nd (ODI) 4nd (T20I)
All-time best ICCTest, ODI and T20Iranking	1st (Test) 1st (ODI) 1st (T20I)
Test matches – This year	489 3
Last Test match	v  Sri Lanka at Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo, Aug 24, 2015.
Wins/losses – This year	122/157 0/1

The Indian cricket team, also known as Team India and Men in Blue, is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), it is a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test and One Day International(ODI) status.

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 did not play its first Test match until 25 June 1932 at Lord's.^[3] They became the sixth team to be granted Test cricket status.^[4] In its first fifty years of international cricket, India was one of the weaker teams in international cricket, winning only 35 of the 196 Test matches it played during the period.^[5] The team, however, gained strength in the 1970s with the emergence of players such as batsmen Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath, all-rounder Kapil Dev and the Indian spin quartet – Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivas Venkataraghavan (both off spinners), Bhagwat Chandrasekhar (a leg spinner), and Bishen Singh Bedi (a left-arm spinner). Traditionally much stronger at home than abroad, the Indian team has improved its overseas form since the start of the 21st century, winning Test matches in Australia, England and South Africa. It has won the Cricket World Cup twice – in 1983 under the captaincy of Kapil Dev and in 2011 under Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captaincy. After winning the 2011 World Cup, India became only the third team after West Indies and Australia to have won the World Cup more than once, and the first cricket team to win the World Cup at home. It has won the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 and 2013 ICC Champions Trophy, under the captaincy of Dhoni. It was also the joint champions of 2002 ICC Champions Trophy, along with Sri Lanka.

As of 10 July 2015, the Indian cricket team is ranked fifth in Tests, second in ODIs and second in T20Is by the ICC.^[1] Virat Kohli is the current captain of the team in Tests while Dhoni is the ODI and T20I captain. The Indian cricket team has rivalries with other Test-playing nations, most notably with Pakistan, the political arch-rival of India. However, in recent times, rivalries with nations like Australia, England and South Africa have also gained prominence.

Domestic competitions

• Ranji Trophy (TEST)– Founded as the 'Cricket Championship of India' at a meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India in July 1934. The first Ranji Trophy fixtures took place in the 1934–35 season. Syed Mohammed Hadi of Hyderabad was the first batsman to score a century in the tournament. The Trophy was donated by H.H. Sir Bhupendra Singh Mahinder Baha-dur, Maharajah of Patiala in memory of His late Highness Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji of Nawanagar. In the main, the Ranji Trophy is composed of teams representing the states that make up India. As the political states have multiplied, so have cricket teams, but not every state has a team. Some states have more than one cricket team, e.g. Maharashtra and Gujarat. There are also 'odd' teams like Railways, and Services representing the armed forces. The various teams used to be grouped into zones – North, West, East, Central and South – and the initial matches were played on a league basis within the zones. The top two (until 1991–92) and then top three teams (subsequent years) from each zone then played in a national knock-out competition. Starting with the 2002–03 season, the zonal system has been abandoned and a two-division structure has been adopted with two teams being promoted from the plate league and two relegated from the elite league. If the knockout matches are not finished they are decided on the first-innings lead.

• Irani Trophy (TEST)– The Trophy tournament was conceived during the 1959–60 season to mark the completion of 25 years of the Ranji Trophy championship and was named after the late Z.R. Irani, who was associated with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from its inception in 1928, till his death in 1970 and a keen patron of the game. The first match, played between the Ranji Trophy champions and the Rest of India was played in 1959–60. For the first few years, it was played at the fag end of the season. Realising the importance of the fixture, the BCCI moved it to the beginning of the season. Since 1965–66, it has traditionally heralded the start of the new domestic season. The Irani Trophy game ranks high in popularity and importance. It is one of the few domestic matches followed with keen interest by cricket lovers in the country. Leading players take part in the game, which has often been a sort of selection trial to pick the Indian team for foreign tours.

• NKP Salve Challenger Trophy (ODI)– Started as the Challenger series by the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 1994–95 and later named as NKP Salve Challenger Trophy in 1998–99, the tournament features 3 teams: India senior, India A and India B playing each other. They were later renamed India Blue, India Red and India Green respectively. This competition also marked as the platform of return for some big names like Syed Adil and A. Eshwar in 2005–06 season after they battled injury and form respectively. The tournament features the top 36 players from across India and is also the most popular domestic structure after IPL.

• Duleep Trophy (TEST)– The Duleep Trophy competition, a first-class competition, was started by the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 1961–62 with the aim of providing a greater competitive edge in domestic cricket – because, apart from the knock-out stages of the Ranji Trophy, that competition proved predictable, with Bombay winning for fifteen consecutive years. The Duleep was also meant to help the selectors in assessing form. The original format was that five teams, drawn from the five zones, play each other on a knock-out basis. From the 1993–94 season, the competition has been converted to a league format.

• Vijay Hazare Trophy(ODI)- Named after the prolific Indian cricketer Vijay Hazare, the Trophy was started in 2002–03 as an attempt to bring the limited-overs game among a greater audience. The competition involves state teams from the Ranji trophy plates battling out in a 50-over competition, much on the lines of Ford Ranger Cup of Australia and Friends Provident Trophy of England. Since its conception, Tamil Nadu and Mumbai have won the trophy twice each. It is also dubbed as the Premier Cup by BCCI. It now joins Deodhar Trophy as the second one-day competition of Indian domestic circuit.

• Deodhar Trophy (ODI)- Started in 1973–74 by Board of Control for Cricket in India, it is the current one-day cricket competition in Indian domestic cricket. 5 zonal teams – North zone, South zone, East zone, West zone and Central zone feature in the competition. North zone have won this competition 11th time. It is also called All-Star Series due to some big names representing their Zonal sides in the one-day fixtures.

• BCCI Corporate Trophy (ODI)– BCCI have set up a 12 team inter-corporate tournament that involves all top Indian cricketers. The tournament involves 50-over-a-side matches with the winner picking up Rs 1 crore and the runner up getting Rs 50 lakh.

• Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (T20)– To be played for the first time in the 2008–09 season, this is the first of its kind zonal T20 championship and the third overall in the Indian cricket season, which would see Ranji teams divided along zonal lines into two groups with the tournament culminating in the All India T20 final between the winners of the two groups for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Launched after the success of the IPL and the need of the BCCI to search for more talent in the growing regions of cricket.

• Indian Premier League(T20)– In response to the rival ICL, the BCCI started the Twenty20 Indian Premier League (known as the IPL). This League has been launched by BCCI have received support from all the other Cricket Boards, and International Players could be drafted into City-based Franchises. The first IPL season was held from April 18, 2008 to June 1, 2008 where underdogs Rajasthan Royals, led by Shane Warne, won the first title at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai Based on regional loyalties, the nine-team tournament brings a unique and popular team and play auction system hand-picking some of the best international players in the world and teaming them with Indian players, both domestic and international, in one arena.The total prize money for the IPL was $3 million

The game has been likened to Baseball with crowd participation encouraged more strongly than in other forms of the game. It has been greatly acknowledged by people and has made huge profits.

• Inter-State T20 Championship (T20)– After India became another member of the ICC Twenty20 and played its first international T20 against South Africa, BCCI launched its own state structure in 2006–07 season, with 27 Ranji teams divided in 5 Zones. The final was played between Punjab and Tamil Nadu, which the latter won by 2 wickets and 2 balls remaining, thereby becoming the only ever winner of this series. In this series, Rohit Sharma also became the only ever Indian to register a T20 century for Mumbai against Gujarat. The competition was later replaced by a franchise-based IPL.