Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman
Portman at the premiere of Black Swan during the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	Natalie Hershlag (Hebrew: נטלי הרשלג‎) June 9, 1981 (age 29) Jerusalem, Israel
Education	Bachelor's degree
Alma mater	Harvard University
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1994–present
Partner	Benjamin Millepied (2010–present)

Natalie Hershlag (Hebrew: נטלי הרשלג‎; born June 9, 1981), better known by her stage name Natalie Portman, is an Israeli-American actress. Her first role was as an orphan taken in by a hitman in the 1994 French action film Léon. During the 1990s, Portman had major roles in films like Beautiful Girls and Anywhere but Here, before being cast for the role as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. In 1999, she enrolled at Harvard University to study psychology while she was working on the Star Wars films. She completed her bachelor's degree in 2003.

In 2001, Portman opened in New York City's Public Theater production of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull. In 2005, Portman received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as well as winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture for the drama Closer. She shaved her head and learned to speak with a British accent for her starring role in V for Vendetta (2006), for which she won a Constellation Award for Best Female Performance, and a Saturn Award for Best Actress. She played leading roles in the historical dramas Goya's Ghosts (2006) and The Other Boleyn Girl (2008). In May 2008, she served as the youngest member of the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival jury. Portman's directorial debut, Eve, opened the 65th Venice International Film Festival's shorts competition in 2008.

In 2011, Portman won the Academy Award, the Golden Globe Award, the Screen Actors Guild Award, and the BAFTA Award for her lead performance in Black Swan.

Early life

Portman was born in Jerusalem, Israel. Her father, Avner Hershlag, is a fertility specialist. Her mother, Shelley Hershlag, is an American homemaker who works as her agent. Portman's maternal ancestors were Jewish immigrants from Austria and Russia, and her paternal ancestors were Jews who moved to Israel from Poland and Romania. Her paternal grandfather, whose parents died at Auschwitz, was an economics professor in Israel, and her Romanian-born great-grandmother was a spy for British Intelligence during World War II.

Portman's parents met at a Jewish student center at Ohio State University, where her mother was selling tickets. They corresponded after her father returned to Israel, and were married when her mother visited a few years later. In 1984, when Portman was three years old, the family moved to the United States, where her father received his medical training. Portman, a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, has said that although she "really loves the States... my heart's in Jerusalem. That's where I feel at home."

Portman and her family first lived in Washington, D.C., but relocated to Connecticut in 1988, and then settled on Long Island, New York, in 1990.

Education

In Washington, D.C., Portman attended Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School. Portman learned to speak Hebrew in addition to English and attended a Jewish elementary school, the Solomon Schechter Day School of Glen Cove, New York. She graduated from Syosset High School in Syosset, Long Island, in 1999. Portman skipped the premiere of Star Wars: Episode I so she could study for her high school final exams.

In 2003, Portman graduated from Harvard College with a B.A. degree in psychology. "I don't care if college ruins my career," she told the New York Post, according to a Fox News article. "I'd rather be smart than a movie star." At Harvard, Portman was Alan Dershowitz's research assistant in a psychology lab. While attending Harvard, she was a resident of Lowell House and wrote a letter to the Harvard Crimson in response to an essay critical of Israeli actions towards Palestinians.

Portman took graduate courses at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the spring of 2004. In March 2006, she appeared as a guest lecturer at a Columbia University course in terrorism and counterterrorism, where she spoke about her film V for Vendetta.

Portman has professed an interest in foreign languages since childhood and has studied French, Japanese, German, and Arabic.

As a student, Portman co-authored two research papers that were published in professional scientific journals. Her 1998 high school paper, "A Simple Method To Demonstrate the Enzymatic Production of Hydrogen from Sugar," co-authored with scientists Ian Hurley and Jonathan Woodward, was entered in the Intel Science Talent Search, in which she was named a semifinalist. In 2002, she contributed to a study on memory called "Frontal Lobe Activation During Object Permanence" during her psychology studies at Harvard.

Due to her scientific publications, Portman is among a very small number of professional actors with a finite Erdős–Bacon number, a concept that reflects the "small world phenomenon" in academia and entertainment by measuring the "collaborative distance" between that person and Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős—and the number of links, through roles in films, by which the individual is separated from American actor Kevin Bacon.

Career

Early work

Portman started dancing lessons at age four and performed in local troupes. At the age of 10, a Revlon agent asked her to become a child model, but she turned down the offer to focus on acting. In a magazine interview, Portman said that she was "different from the other kids. I was more ambitious, I knew what I liked and what I wanted, and I worked very hard. I was a very serious kid."

Portman spent her school holidays attending theater camps. When she was 10, she auditioned for the Off-Broadway show Ruthless!, a musical about a girl who is prepared to commit murder to get the lead in a school play. Portman and future pop star Britney Spears were chosen as the understudies for star Laura Bell Bundy. In 1994, she auditioned for the role of a child who befriends a middle-aged hitman in Luc Besson's film, Léon (aka The Professional). Soon after getting the part, she took her grandmother's maiden name "Portman" as her stage name, in the interest of privacy and to protect her family's identity. Léon opened on November 18, 1994, marking her feature film debut at age 13. That same year she appeared in the short film Developing, which aired on television.

1995–1999

During the mid-1990s, Portman had roles in the films Heat, Everyone Says I Love You, and Mars Attacks!, as well as a major role in Beautiful Girls. She was the first choice to play Juliet in William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, but producers felt her age wasn't suitable. In 1997, Portman played the role of Anne Frank in a Broadway adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank.

She initially turned down the lead role in the film Anywhere but Here after learning it would involve a sex scene, but director Wayne Wang and actress Susan Sarandon demanded a rewrite of the script; Portman was shown a new draft, and she decided to be in the film. The film opened in late 1999, and she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Ann August. Critic Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon called Portman "astonishing" and said that "unlike any number of actresses her age, she's neither too maudlin nor too plucky." In the late 1990s, Portman was cast as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. The first part, The Phantom Menace, opened in early 1999. She then signed on to play the lead role of a teenaged mother in Where the Heart Is.

2000–2005

After filming Where the Heart Is, Portman moved into the dorms of Harvard University to pursue her bachelor's degree in psychology. She said in a 1999 interview that, with the exception of the Star Wars prequels, she would not act for the next four years in order to concentrate on studying. During the summer break from June to September 2000, Portman filmed Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones in Sydney, along with additional production in London.

In July 2001, Portman opened in New York City's Public Theater production of Chekhov's The Seagull, directed by Mike Nichols; she played the role of Nina alongside Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The play opened at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. That same year, she was one of many celebrities who made cameo appearances in the 2001 comedy Zoolander. Portman was cast in a small role in the film Cold Mountain alongside Jude Law and Nicole Kidman.

In 2004, Portman appeared in the independent movies Garden State and Closer.Garden State was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival and won Best First Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards. Her performance as Alice in Closer earned her a Supporting Actress Golden Globe as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

The final Star Wars prequel, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, was released on May 19, 2005. The film was the highest grossing domestic film of the year, and was voted Favorite Motion Picture at the People's Choice Awards. Also in 2005, Portman filmed Free Zone and director Miloš Forman's Goya's Ghosts. Forman had not seen any of her work but thought she looked like a Goya painting, so he requested a meeting.

2006–2009

Portman at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival

Portman hosted Saturday Night Live on March 4, 2006. In a SNL Digital Short, she portrays herself as an angry gangsta rapper (with Andy Samberg as her Flavor Flav-esque partner in Viking garb) during a faux-interview with Chris Parnell, saying she cheated at Harvard University while high on marijuana and cocaine.The song, titled "Natalie's Rap," was released – alongside other sketches from the show – in 2009 on Incredibad, an album by the Lonely Island. In another sketch, she portrays a student named Rebecca Hershlag (her actual surname) attending a Bar Mitzvah, and in an installment of the recurring sketch The Needlers (also known as Sally and Dan, The Couple That Should Be Divorced), plays a fertility specialist (her father's profession).

V for Vendetta opened in early 2006. Portman portrayed Evey Hammond, a young woman who is saved from the secret police by the main character, V. Portman worked with a voice coach for the role, learning to speak with an English accent, and she famously had her head shaved.

Portman has commented on V for Vendetta's political relevance and mentioned that her character, who joins an underground anti-government group, is "often bad and does things that you don't like" and that "being from Israel was a reason I wanted to do this because terrorism and violence are such a daily part of my conversations since I was little." She said the film "doesn't make clear good or bad statements. It respects the audience enough to take away their own opinion".

Both Goya's Ghosts and Free Zone received limited releases in 2006. Portman starred in the children's film Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, which began filming in April 2006 and was released in November 2007; she has said that she was "excited to do a kids' movie." In late 2006, Portman filmed The Other Boleyn Girl, a historical drama in which she plays Anne Boleyn; Eric Bana and Scarlett Johansson co-starred. She was named one of the hottest women of film and TV by Blender Magazine.

In 2006, she filmed Wong Kar-wai's road movie My Blueberry Nights. She won acclaim for her role as gambler Leslie, because "[f]or once she's not playing a waif or a child princess but a mature, full-bodied woman... but she's not coasting on her looks... She uses her appeal to simultaneously flirt with and taunt the gambler across the table." Portman voiced Bart Simpson's girlfriend Darcy in the episode "Little Big Girl" of The Simpsons' 18th season.

She appeared in Paul McCartney's music video "Dance Tonight" from his 2007 album Memory Almost Full, directed by Michel Gondry. Portman co-starred in the Wes Anderson short film Hotel Chevalier, opposite Jason Schwartzman, in which she performed her second nude scene (her first being Goya's Ghosts). In May 2008, Portman served as the youngest member of the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival jury, and in 2009, she starred opposite Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal in the drama film Brothers, a remake of the 2004 Danish film of the same name.

In 2008, Portman at age 27 made her directorial debut at the Venice Film Festival. "Eve", a short movie about a young woman who is dragged along on her grandmother's romantic date, was screened out of competition. Portman said she had always had a fascination with the older generation, and drew inspiration for the character from her own grandmother.

2010–present

Portman being interviewed at the premiere of No Strings Attached, January 11, 2011

In 2010, Portman played a veteran ballerina in Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, a role of which critic Kurt Loder wrote: "Portman gives one of her most compelling performances in this film, which is saying something." To prepare for the role, she went through five to eight hours of dance training each day for six months and lost 20 lb. On January 16, 2011, she won the Best Actress Golden Globe Award for her performance. On February 27, 2011, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Portman's next film was No Strings Attached, which was released on January 21, 2011. She has also played the role of Jane Foster in Kenneth Branagh's upcoming film adaptation of Thor. Portman dropped out of the lead role of Elizabeth Bennet in the novel adaptation Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but she continues as producer.

Social and political causes

Portman at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival, presenting Black Swan

Portman, who is an advocate for animal rights, has been a vegetarian since childhood. She became a vegan in 2009 after reading Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals. She does not eat animal products or wear fur, feathers, or leather. "All of my shoes are from Target and Stella McCartney," she has said. In 2007, she launched her own brand of vegan footwear.

In 2007, Portman traveled to Rwanda with Jack Hanna, to film the documentary Gorillas on the Brink. Later, at a naming ceremony, Portman christened a baby gorilla Gukina, which means "to play." Portman has been an advocate of environmental causes since childhood, when she joined an environmental song and dance troupe known as World Patrol Kids. She is also a member of the One Voice movement.

Portman has also supported antipoverty activities. In 2004 and 2005, she traveled to Uganda, Guatemala, and Ecuador as the Ambassador of Hope for FINCA International, an organization that promotes micro-lending to help finance women-owned businesses in developing countries. In an interview conducted backstage at the Live 8 concert in Philadelphia and appearing on the PBS program Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria, she discussed microfinance. Host Fareed Zakaria said that he was "generally wary of celebrities with fashionable causes," but included the segment with Portman because "she really knew her stuff."

In the "Voices" segment of the April 29, 2007, episode of the ABC Sunday morning program This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Portman discussed her work with FINCA and how it can benefit women and children in Third World countries. In fall 2007, she visited several university campuses, including Harvard, USC, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Stanford, Princeton, New York University, and Columbia, to inspire students with the power of microfinance and to encourage them to join the Village Banking Campaign to help families and communities lift themselves out of poverty.

In 2010, Portman's activist work and popularity with young people earned her a nomination for VH1's Do Something Awards, which is dedicated to honoring individuals who do good.

Portman is a supporter of the Democratic Party, and in the 2004 presidential race she campaigned for the Democratic nominee, Senator John Kerry. In the 2008 presidential election, Portman supported Senator Hillary Clinton of New York in the Democratic primaries. She later campaigned for the eventual Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, during the general election. However, in a 2008 interview, she also said: "I even like John McCain. I disagree with his war stance — which is a really big deal — but I think he's a very moral person."

Personal life

In the May 2002 issue of Vogue, Portman called actor/musician Lukas Haas and musician Moby her close friends. After starring in the video for his song "Carmensita", she began a relationship with American folk singer Devendra Banhart, which ended in September 2008. She met ballet dancer Benjamin Millepied in the spring of 2009, on the set of her film Black Swan, for which Millepied acted as choreographer. By at least New Year's Eve 2009, the two had begun dating. On December 27, 2010, a Portman representative told the press that Portman and Millepied are engaged and expecting a child, due in the summer of 2011.

On the concept of the afterlife, Portman has said, "I don't believe in that. I believe this is it, and I believe it's the best way to live." She has said that she feels more Jewish in Israel and that she would like to raise her children in the Jewish religion: "A priority for me is definitely that I'd like to raise my kids Jewish, but the ultimate thing is to have someone who is a good person and who is a partner."

Filmography

Film and television roles

Title Year Role Notes

Léon 1994 Mathilda (aka The Professional)

Developing 1994 Nina 23-minute short film

Heat 1995 Lauren Gustafson

Beautiful Girls 1996 Marty

Everyone Says I Love You 1996 Laura Dandridge

Mars Attacks! 1996 Taffy Dale

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 1999 Padmé Amidala

Anywhere but Here 1999 Ann August

Where the Heart Is 2000 Novalee Nation

Zoolander 2001 Herself cameo

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones 2002 Padmé Amidala

Cold Mountain 2003 Sara

Garden State 2004 Samantha

Closer 2004 Alice Ayres

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith 2005 Padmé Amidala

Free Zone 2005 Rebecca received a limited US theatrical release in April 2006

V for Vendetta 2006 Evey Hammond

Paris, je t'aime 2006 Francine Ensemble film with 22 segments. She appears in the segment directed by German writer-director Tom Tykwer.

Goya's Ghosts 2006 Ines Bilbatua & Alicia

My Blueberry Nights 2007 Leslie

The Darjeeling Limited 2007 Jack's Ex-Girlfriend

Hotel Chevalier 2007 Jack's Ex-Girlfriend 13-minute short companion piece to The Darjeeling Limited

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium 2007 Molly Mahoney

The Other Boleyn Girl 2008 Anne Boleyn

Love and Other Impossible Pursuits 2009 Emilia Greenleaf Retitled The Other Woman, with limited theatrical release in February 2011

New York, I Love You 2009 Rifka

Brothers 2009 Grace Cahill

Hesher 2010 Nicole

Black Swan 2010 Nina Sayers

No Strings Attached 2011 Emma Kurtzman

Your Highness 2011 Isabel Completed

Thor 2011 Jane Foster Post-production

Theatrical roles

Production Year Role Notes

Ruthless!! 1994

The Diary of Anne Frank 1997 Anne Frank

The Seagull 2001

Awards

Natalie Portman at the Toronto International Film Festival's 2009 premiere of Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, directed by Don Roos.

Won

2002 – Teen Choice Awards, Choice Movie Actress: Drama/Action Adventure: Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

2004 – National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, Best Acting by an Ensemble: Closer (shared with Jude Law, Clive Owen, and Julia Roberts)

2004 – San Diego Film Critics Society, Best Supporting Actress: Closer

2005 – Golden Globe Awards, Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture: Closer

2007 – Saturn Awards, Best Actress: V for Vendetta

2010 – Boston Society of Film Critics, Best Actress: Black Swan

2010 – New York Film Critics Online, Best Actress: Black Swan

2010 – Online Film Critics Society, Best Actress: Black Swan

2011 - Academy Award, Best Actress: Black Swan

2011 – BAFTA Awards, Best Actress in a Leading Role: Black Swan

2011 – Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards, Best Actress: Black Swan

2011 – Golden Globe Awards, Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama: Black Swan

2011 – Independent Spirit Awards, Best Female Lead: Black Swan

2011 – Screen Actors Guild Awards, Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role: Black Swan

Nominations

1996 – Chicago Film Critics Association, Best Supporting Actress: Beautiful Girls; Most Promising Actress: Beautiful Girls

1999 – Golden Raspberry Award, Worst Screen Couple: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (shared with Jake Lloyd)

2000 – Golden Globe Awards, Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture: Anywhere but Here

2000 – Saturn Awards, Best Young Actress: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

2000 – Teen Choice Awards, Choice Movie Actress: Where the Heart Is

2000 – Young Artist Awards, Best Young Actress: Anywhere but Here

2001 – Young Artist Awards, Best Young Actress: Where the Heart Is

2002 – Teen Choice Awards, Choice Chemistry: Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (shared with Hayden Christensen)

2003 – Golden Raspberry Awards, Worst Supporting Actress: Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones; Worst Screen Couple: Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (shared with Hayden Christensen)

2003 – Saturn Awards, Best Actress: Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

2005 – Academy Awards, Best Supporting Actress: Closer

2005 – BAFTA Awards, Best Supporting Actress: Closer

2005 – Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards, Best Supporting Actress: Closer; Best Acting Ensemble: Closer (shared with Jude Law, Clive Owen, and Julia Roberts)

2005 – Irish Film and Television Awards, Best International Actress: Garden State

2005 – London Film Critics' Circle, Actress of the Year: Closer

2005 – MTV Movie Awards, Best Female Performance: Garden State; Best Kiss: Garden State (shared with Zach Braff)

2005 – Online Film Critics Society, Best Supporting Actress: Closer

2005 – People's Choice Awards, Favorite Leading Lady

2005 – Satellite Awards, Best Supporting Actress in a Drama: Closer; Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical: Garden State

2005 – Teen Choice Awards, Choice Movie Actress: Drama: Closer, Garden State; Choice Movie Actress: Action/Adventure: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith; Choice Movie Liar, Garden State; Choice Movie Liplock: Garden State; Choice Movie Love Scene: Garden State

2005 – Vancouver Film Critics Circle, Best Supporting Actress: Closer, Garden State

2006 – Saturn Awards, Best Actress: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

2006 – Teen Choice Awards, Choice Movie Actress: Drama/Action Adventure: V for Vendetta

2009 – Chicago Film Critics Association, Best Supporting Actress: Brothers

2010 – Saturn Awards, Best Actress: Brothers

2010 – Satellite Awards, Best Actress in a Drama: Black Swan

2010 – Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association, Best Actress: Black Swan

2011 – Alliance of Women Film Journalists, Best Actress: Black Swan

2011 – London Film Critics' Circle, Actress of the Year: Black Swan

2011 – Saturn Awards, Best Actress: Black Swan

2011 – Toronto Film Critics Association, Best Actress: Black Swan

2011 – Vancouver Film Critics Circle, Best Actress: Black Swan

(source:wikipedia)

England ODI cricket team members

Tim Bresnan

Timothy 'Tim' Thomas Bresnan (born 28 February 1985) is an English cricketer. He is a fast-medium bowler, as well as being respected for his ability with the bat for Yorkshire. He normally fields in the deep. He won the NBC Denis Compton Award in 2002 and 2003. In June 2006 he was called up to the England One Day International side, and in May 2009, he joined England's Test side. He was selected for the 2010-11 Ashes series and played in the Boxing Day Test at the MCG; he took 6 wickets including the final one which saw England retain the Ashes.Bresnan made his maiden first-class century in a County Championship match versus Surrey at the Oval whilst playing for Yorkshire. He scored 116 and in doing so, alongside Jason Gillespie, set a record 9th wicket partnership for Yorkshire. The pair put on 246 before Bresnan was stumped off the bowling of Nayan Doshi and on the 13th July 2007, Bresnan scored his second first-class ton for England Lions against a touring Indian team, boasting the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Ramesh Powar, and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth. Bresnan scored 116 not out from 156 deliveries in the first day and shared a partnership of 129 with Nottinghamshire bowler Stuart Broad who scored 50.

Stuart Broad

Stuart Christopher John Broad (born 24 June 1986 in Nottingham) is a cricketer who plays Test and One Day International cricket for England. A left-handed batsman and right-arm seam bowler, Broad's professional career started at Leicestershire, the team attached to his school, Oakham School; in 2008 he transferred to Nottinghamshire, the county of his birth and the team for which his father played. In August 2006 he was voted the Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the Year.

He was a vital member of the victorious 2009 Ashes squad, and he won Man of the Match in the fifth Test at the Oval, after figures of 5/37 in the afternoon session of the second day. His bowling was also instrumental in helping England win the 2010 ICC World T20. As a batsman, he holds the second-highest ever Test score made by a number 9 after his 169, his first century in first-class cricket, against Pakistan in August 2010.Broad originally started his career as an opening batsman, following in the footsteps of his father, the former England opener and current ICC match referee Chris Broad. It was not until he was 17 and had a growth spurt that he started to consider being a fast bowler. Broad had been associated with Leicestershire since he was 8 years old having represented them at Under–9 level. Broad learned most of his adult cricket at Melton Mowbray club Egerton Park. He played for the club from the ages of 9–19; in his final two seasons he opened the batting with fellow Leicestershire player Matthew Boyce and spearheaded the attack. Broad maintained the Club's tradition of providing International seam bowlers as Egerton Park were the first club of former Warwickshire, Derbyshire and (fleetingly) England seamer Tim Munton. He was awarded with the Leicestershire Young Cricketers Batsman Award in 1996.

Broad was a pupil at Oakham School, where he was in the same year as England Rugby back-row Tom Croft. He opened both the batting and the bowling for the Oakham first XI; in fifty matches he scored 902 runs at 37.58 and took 61 wickets at 23.34. Broad finished his school career with three B–grades at A-level; given the choice of a place at Durham University or a contract with Leicestershire County Cricket Club, he chose the latter

Ravi Bopara

Ravinder Singh ("Ravi") Bopara (born 4 May 1985, Forest Gate, Newham, London) is a British Indian cricketer who plays for Essex and England. He is the second Sikh to play cricket for England, after Monty Panesar. He was first called up to the England ODI team in 2007, before a difficult Test debut in Sri Lanka saw him dropped in early 2008 after a string of three ducks. He regained his place for a Test against the West Indies in the winter of 2008-09, however, and scored a century batting at number three. Bopara held on to the number three position for the May 2009 home Test series against the West Indies, scoring a century in both tests, and was named in the preliminary 2009 Ashes squad.

Bopara has also enjoyed success in the Indian Premier League, where he plays for the Kings XI Punjab.In January 2007 Kevin Pietersen sustained a rib injury in England's first One Day International against Australia, keeping him out of the remainder of the series. Bopara was called up as his replacement, and made his ODI debut on 2 February. Later that month, he was named in the England squad for the 2007 Cricket World Cup, and he played his second ODI in England's second match of that tournament. In England's match against Sri Lanka, Bopara was named man of the match for his 52 off 53 balls, which brought England to within three runs of victory from a seemingly hopeless position. The partnership for the seventh wicket was an English World Cup record and was the second record partnership made by Bopara in the tournament, following his record fifth wicket partnership with Paul Collingwood against Canada. On 30 August he again featured in a prominent tail end partnership, this time with Stuart Broad as the pair added an unbeaten 99 for the 8th wicket to defeat India at Old Trafford. Bopara finished 43 not out.

In June 2007, he made his highest ever first-class score, against Northamptonshire striking 229 runs off 391 balls, including 27 fours, and one six. He was picked in the squad for the ICC World Twenty20 tournament in September 2007, but was injured and was unable to go.

Paul Collingwood

Paul David Collingwood MBE (born 26 May 1976) is an English cricketer. He has been a regular member of the England Test side, was captain of the One Day International (ODI) team 2007–2008, and is the current England Twenty20 captain. He is also vice-captain of his county, Durham County Cricket Club. Collingwood is a batting all-rounder, whose batting combines natural strokeplay with great tenacity. He also bowls reliable medium pace. Described as a "natural athlete", he is also regarded as one of the finest fielders of his time; usually fielding at backward point or in the slips, he has also deputised as wicket-keeper for England.

His first class debut was in 1996, and he made his first appearance for England in One Day International cricket in 2001 and made his Test match debut in 2003. For two years he remained an occasional Test player, but after selection for the final Test of the 2005 Ashes, he secured a regular place. His 206 during the 2006–07 Ashes was the first double century by an England batsman in Australia for 78 years. A series of three consecutive match-winning performances by Collingwood at the end of the 2006–07 Commonwealth Bank Series in Australia brought him enthusiastic approval in the British media. His "allround [sic] display of incredible nerve and tenacity" helped to secure the trophy for England. In 2010 he led the England team to their first ICC Trophy, the 2010 World Twenty20. He is England's most capped ODI cricketer and leading ODI run scorer.He announced his retirement from Test cricket in January 2011, during the 5th Test of the 2010–11 Ashes series.  He finished on a high, becoming a three-times Ashes winner as England won a series in Australia for the first time in 24 years, with three innings victories contributing to a 3-1 win.

Michael Yardy

Michael Howard Yardy (born November 27, 1980 in Pembury, Kent) is an English cricketer. He captains Sussex County Cricket Club and is a left-handed batsman whose unusual technique has attracted a great deal of attention due to a pronounced shuffle from leg to off immediately prior to the bowler releasing the ball. Yardy also bowls slow left arm with a characteristic round armed action similar to that of Australia's Darren Lehmann, and is used as a bowling all-rounder in England's ODI and Twenty20 teams.Yardy made his Sussex debut in an early-season NatWest Trophy game against Hertfordshire in May 1999, although it was not a very successful way to begin his career: opening the batting, he was lbw for nought and went for 14 from two wicketless overs. He also played a one-day game against Sri Lanka A, again with little success, and though he played a few games the following year it was only in 2001 that he became anything like a regular in the side. He played ten games in 2002, but only seven in total over the next two years, before returning with a vengeance in 2005.

He enjoyed an excellent domestic summer that season, making 1,520 first-class runs at 56.29 with five centuries, including a career-best 257 against the Bangladeshis in May. Only Murray Goodwin, who hit 344* in 2009, had made a higher score for Sussex since the Second World War. In the one-day game, Yardy was less successful with the bat, averaging well under 20, but he achieved a career-best bowling performance of 6-27 against Warwickshire in the totesport League.

He was appointed as Sussex's County Captain for the 2009 season, succeeding Chris Adams.

Matt Prior

Matthew James Prior (born 26 February 1982, Johannesburg, South Africa) is an English One Day International (ODI) and Test cricketer who plays domestic cricket for Sussex. He is a wicket-keeper, and his aggressive right-handed batting enables him to open the innings in ODI matches. With an international Test debut score of 126, Prior became the first English wicket-keeper to hit a century in his debut match in early 2007. His glovework, however, was criticised. Despite a successful tour of Sri Lanka with the bat, Prior's keeping was less successful, and he was dropped from the team for the 2008 tour of New Zealand. He returned for the 2008 series against South Africa, and was retained into 2009, where he became the second fastest England keeper to reach 1,000 Test runs, behind Les Ames.Prior was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and moved to England with his family aged 11. His mother is South African and his father is English. From an early age Prior showed commitment to charitable causes and has never shied away from taking part in matches and events in the name of charity. He is married to Emily, the daughter of former footballer Sammy Nelson who played for Arsenal F.C. and Brighton & Hove Albion. The Priors have a son named Jonathan who was born early 2009.

Luke Wright

Luke James Wright (born 7 March 1985) is an English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium bowler. Born in Grantham, Wright joined Sussex in 2004, having started his career at Leicestershire. He was named in England's squad for the Under-19 World Cup in 2004, and joined the International Twenty20 squad for the 2007 Twenty20 World Championship in September 2007. He made his One Day International debut on 5 September 2007 against Indi.

Wright hit a century on debut for Sussex, and has won the Denis Compton medal on three separate occasions during his domestic career. On 26 June 2007 he smashed his maiden domestic Twenty20 Cup century, scoring 103 from only 45 balls, including 11 fours and six sixes before being bowled by Yasir Arafat in Sussex's 7 wicket win over Kent at Canterbury. Although Sussex were defeated in the semi-finals, Wright ended up as the highest run scorer of the competition. Wright has also found success in the longer one day formats, hitting 125 against Gloucestershire from 73 deliveries.

In April 2008, Wright played for the MCC at the opening match of the 2008 county season. Making 15 in the first innings while Sussex were bowled out for 171, he hit a quickfire 155* from 185 deliveries, with 21 fours and three sixes, during a rain-interrupted second innings, his highest score thus far. In May 2008 he was selected for the England Lions team to face the touring New Zealand side at the beginning of the latter's tour of England. With the Lions struggling, Wright hit 120 off 131 deliveries to bring them to 280 all out, giving rise to speculation about his place in the national team.

Kevin Pietersen

Kevin Peter Pietersen, MBE (born 27 June 1980) is a South African-born English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who plays for England and Surrey. He had also played for Indian Premier League team Royal Challengers Bangalore for its second and third seasons, captaining the side in his first, prior to being bought by the Deccan Chargers for the fourth season of the competition. He was captain of the England Test and One Day International teams from 4 August 2008 to 7 January 2009 but resigned after just three tests and nine One Day Internationals, following a dispute with England coach Peter Moores, who was sacked the same day. He is regarded as one of the best batsmen in the world, and is certainly the most destructive,as he is capable of taking on any bowling.

Pietersen was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal, South Africa. He made his first-class debut for Natal in 1997 before moving to England after voicing his displeasure at the racial quota system in place in South Africa. His English mother gave Pietersen eligibility to play for England, and after serving a qualifying period of four years playing at county level, he was called up almost immediately into the national side. He made his international debut in the One Day International match against Zimbabwe in 2004, and his Test match debut in the 2005 Ashes series against Australia the following year. The England team's subsequent reliance on Pietersen since his debut has resulted in only one first-class appearance for Hampshire since 2005, which resulted in Pietersen looking to leave the club in 2010.He subsequently joined Surrey on loan for the remainder on the 2010 English county cricket season after being dropped by England due to a poor run of form, soon before joining the club permanently from the 2011 season onwards.

Pietersen became the fastest batsman to reach both 1,000 and 2,000 runs in One Day International cricket, and the quickest in terms of time to 5,000 Test runs. He has the highest average of any England player to have played more than 20 innings of one-day cricket.He has the second-highest run total from his first 25 Tests, behind only the Australian Donald Bradman, and was the fastest player, in terms of days, to reach 4,000 Test runs. He became only the third English batsman to top the ICC One Day International rankings, doing so in March 2007. In July 2008, after a century against South Africa, The Times called him "the most complete batsman in cricket". Shane Warne, a close friend, in a September serial for the same newspaper, wrote, "I don't think he has an obvious flaw in his technique."

Jonathan Trott

Ian Jonathan Leonard Trott (born 22 April 1981 in Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa) is an English cricketer. Domestically, he plays for Warwickshire and he has also played in South Africa and New Zealand.

A right-handed middle-order batsman and occasional medium-pace bowler, he played two Twenty20 Internationals for England in 2007. Good performances for his county in 2008 and 2009, as well as a productive tour in 2008–09 with the England Lions, led to a call-up to the senior England Test squad in August 2009 for the fifth Ashes Test. He scored a century in that Test, becoming the 18th England player to do so on his Test debut. 18 months later, he scored another century at the MCG to set up the victory which saw England retain the Ashes. His highest England score in a Test match is 226, made against Bangladesh at Lord's on 28 May 2010, and he took his first Test wicket in the same match.

James Tredwell

James Cullum Tredwell (born 27 February 1982 in Ashford, Kent) is an English cricketer. A left-handed batsman and a right-arm off break bowler, he plays his domestic cricket for Kent County Cricket Club. He made his debut for Kent in the 2001 season, just nine days before his first appearance for England Under-19s.

He has been part of the one-day set-up for Kent since 2002, but did not secure a regular place in the first-class County Championship team until 2007, a year after taking his maiden ten-wicket haul. He was selected as part of the England One Day International (ODI) squad to tour New Zealand in 2007–08, but did not make an appearance, as Graeme Swann was preferred. After impressing during the 2009 season with Kent, helping the team gain promotion back to the first division of the County Championship, he was called up during the course of the winter tour to South Africa to both the ODI and Test squads, to provide cover for injured bowlers.

James Anderson

James Michael "Jimmy" Anderson (born 30 July 1982 in Burnley, Lancashire) is an English cricketer. He plays first-class cricket for Lancashire County Cricket Club and since bursting onto the scene in 2002/03, before his first full season of county cricket, Anderson has represented England in over 50 Test matches and over 100 One Day Internationals.

A right arm pace bowler, Anderson made his international debut at the age of just 20. On England's 2002/03 tour of Australia, Anderson was drafted into the squad from the England A team due to an injury crisis. When he played his first ODI he had only played five senior one day matches. Anderson went on to feature in the 2003 ICC World Cup and made his Test match debut against Zimbabwe at Lords the next summer. Later in 2003 he experienced a dip in form and confidence against South Africa. After this he was in and out of the team and experienced numerous injuries, including a stress fracture of the back which kept him out of action for most of the 2006 season. He returned to action and features regularly in England's Test squad. He is a regular strike bowler in England's one day team.

Ian Bell

Ian Ronald Bell MBE (born 11 April 1982) is an England Test cricketer. He also plays county cricket for Warwickshire County Cricket Club. He is a right-handed higher/middle order batsman, described by The Times as an "exquisite rapier,"[1] and occasional right-arm medium pace bowler. He is also noted for his sharp reflexes and often fields in close catching positions.

Bell plays both Test and One Day International matches for England, and has hit twelve Test centuries. In the 2006 New Year Honours List, Ian Bell was awarded the MBE for his role in the successful Ashes campaign of 2005 and in November 2006, he was awarded the prestigious Emerging Player of the Year award by the International Cricket Council. During 2008 and 2009, he was a more infrequent member of the England teams, however he reclaimed his Test place during the 2009 Ashes, which England won, and featured in several ODIs the following year. During 2010, he captained Warwickshire to victory in the CB40 final before scoring his first Ashes century the following winter as he helped England retain the Ashes down-under.

Graeme Swann

Graeme Peter Swann (born 24 March 1979 in Northampton) is an English international cricketer. He is primarily a right-arm offspinner, but also bats right-handed. After initially playing for his home county Northamptonshire, for whom he made his debut in 1997, he moved to Nottinghamshire in 2005. He often fields at slip. He attended Sponne School in Towcester, Northamptonshire.

Swann played a single One Day International against South Africa in 2000, before losing his place in the squad. In 2007, Swann was chosen to accompany England on its tour of Sri Lanka as the team's second spin bowler, alongside Monty Panesar, and subsequently cemented a regular place in England's Test team, playing throughout England's 2–1 victory in the 2009 Ashes. In December 2009, he became the first English spinner to take 50 wickets in a calendar year, culminating in back-to-back man of the match awards in the first two Tests of the South Africa tour and third place in the world rankings for bowlers.

In March 2010, Swann became the first English off-spinner since Jim Laker to take 10 wickets in a match, when he achieved the feat in England's victory in the first test in Bangladesh. In May, he was named ECB Cricketer of the Year. He ended 2010 as England retained and then won the Ashes series in Australia, as the second highest-ranked bowler in world cricket, and the highest ranked spin bowler.

Andrew Strauss

Andrew John Strauss, MBE (born 2 March 1977) is an English cricketer who plays county cricket for Middlesex County Cricket Club and is captain of England. A fluent left-handed opening batsman, Strauss favours scoring off the back foot, mostly playing cut and pull shots. Strauss is also known for his fielding strength at slip or in the covers.

He made his first-class debut in 1998, and his One Day International (ODI) debut in Sri Lanka in 2003. He quickly rose to fame on his Test match debut replacing the injured Michael Vaughan at Lords against New Zealand in 2004. With scores of 112 and 83 (run out) in an England victory, and the man of the match award, he became only the fourth batsman to score a century at Lord's on his debut and was close to becoming the first Englishman to score centuries in both innings of his debut. Strauss again nearly scored two centuries (126 and 94 not out) and was named man of the match in his first overseas Test match, in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in December 2004.Strauss suffered a drop in form during 2007, and as a result he was left out of the Test squad for England's tour of Sri Lanka, and announced that he was taking a break from cricket. After a poor tour for England, Strauss was recalled into the squad for the 2008 tour of New Zealand, and subsequently reestablished himself in the side with a career-best 177 in the third and final Test of that series, and a further three centuries in 2008.

Having deputised for Michael Vaughan as England captain in 2006, Strauss was appointed on a permanent basis for the 2008/09 tour of the West Indies following Kevin Pietersen's resignation. He enjoyed success with three centuries, and retained the captaincy into 2009. Strauss captained the England team to a 2–1 victory in the 2009 Ashes, scoring a series total of 474 runs, more than any other player on either side, including 161 in England's first victory in an Ashes Test at Lord's in 75 years.

Ajmal Shahzad

Ajmal Shahzad (born 27 July 1985) is an English cricketer who plays for Yorkshire County Cricket Club. A right-handed batsman and right-arm fast-medium bowler, he made his international debut in a Twenty20 International for England in February 2010. He later made his ODI debut before becoming the 650th player to play Test cricket for England, making his debut against Bangladesh.

In 2004, he became the first Yorkshire-born player of Asian extraction to play for Yorkshire.

In his only first-class appearance in 2006, he failed to take a wicket, and scored just two runs. He enjoyed more success in the shorter formats of the game, claiming five wickets and 18 runs in four List A matches for his native county, and in his sole Twenty20 appearance, he took 2 wickets.

In 2009, Shahzad enjoyed an injury free and successful season, taking 40 wickets and scoring 445 runs in the late middle order, raising hopes that he may yet exhibit genuine all-rounder potential. His performances gained him a call up to the England performance squad in South Africa squad, where he impressed coach Andy Flower.

International career

In January 2010, he was named in the Test and ODI squads for the England tour of Bangladesh. On his debut for England in a Twenty20 International against Pakistan, he claimed two wickets, both in his first over.

He later made his ODI début against Bangladesh, again taking a wicket in his first over. When Bangladesh later toured England, he made his Test début in the second Test, replacing the injured Tim Bresnan. After only scoring 5 runs in England's innings and an expensive start with the ball, he later took 3 wickets in 3 overs in his second spell as Bangladesh missed the follow-on target.

Shahzad was subsequently selected for the Ashes 2010-11 squad, but never featured in any of the matches. He was also chosen for the twenty20 and ODI squads touring Australia. He is currently in the 15 man squad for the ICC World Cup 2011.

(source:wikipedia)

India's world cup cricket team

Ashish Nehra

Ashish Nehra pronunciation (help·info) (born April 29, 1979 in Delhi) is an Indian cricketer (left-arm fast bowler) who has represented India at the international level since 1999. Nehra started playing first-class cricket for his hometown, Delhi, in the 1997/1998 season and made his Test debut against Sri Lanka at Colombo in 1999 and his ODI debut against Zimbabwe at Harare in 2001. On his Test debut, Nehra started out well, dismissing Marvan Atapattu early but then failed to pick up any more wickets. Similarly, he dismissed Alistair Campbell with only his 2nd ball in ODIs. He was also part of the Indian team's run at the 2003 World Cup in South Africa. It was there against England, that he got his career-best ODI figures of six for 23. His performance in the other matches in the World Cup were also noteworthy. He was also the only Indian bowler who had an economy rate of less than 6 runs an over during the finals of the World Cup when Australia racked up 359.

However inconsistency and successive back and ankle injuries have prevented him from cementing his place in the Indian team. His career statistics are better in ODI cricket than in Test cricket, but with 144 ODI wickets at an average of 30.54 his average is higher(lesser the best) than all three of his main competitors for fast bowling places in the Indian team - Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar, who all have bowling averages below 30. The new crop of fast bowlers like Munaf Patel, RP Singh and Ishant Sharma also add to the competition. Nevertheless, Nehra completed recovery from a back injury in March 2006 and is trying to make a comeback into the Indian team.

Nehra has often been criticised for his poor fielding, and is regarded as one of the worst in international cricket, particularly his apparent disinterest and casual attitude towards fielding.He hit the headlines with creditable showings in the second season of the IPL, and was recalled to the ODI squad for the tour of West Indies in June 2009 after 4 years due to an injury to Zaheer Khan.After recovering from the ankle injury that prevented him from playing for the Delhi Ranji Team in the 2007-08 season, Nehra joined the Indian Premier League and signed up for the Mumbai Indians franchise. He won the Man of the Match for the game versus Rajasthan Royals taking three wickets on 7 May 2008. He plays for the Delhi DareDevils from 2009. He was picked up by Sahara Pune Warriors in the latest IPL auction for a sum of 3.91 Crores.

Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir Punjabi: ਗੈਤਮ ਗਂਭੀਰ, Hindi: गौतम गंभीर pronunciation (help·info) (born 14 October 1981, in Delhi) is an Indian opening batsman. He has been a member of the Indian national cricket team since 2003 (ODIs) and 2004 (Tests). Gambhir had been a prolific run-scorer in domestic cricket with an average of over 50 but his two successive double-hundreds in 2002 (one of them against the visiting Zimbabweans) made him a strong contender for India's opening slot. He became only the fourth Indian batsman to score a double century in a tour game at home; the previous three being Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar and Sachin Tendulkar. He is the only Indian batsman to score more than 300 runs in four consecutive Test series. He is also the only Indian, and one of only four international cricketers, to have scored five hundreds in five consecutive test matches. On July 2009, for a period of ten days he was the number one ranked batsman in ICC Test rankings.

Gambhir made his ODI debut against Bangladesh in the TVS Cup in 2003. In his third match, he scored 71 and was named Man of the Match. His maiden century (103 off 97 balls) came against Sri Lanka in 2005. In 2004, he made his Test debut against Australia in the fourth and last Test match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy but did himself no favours by getting out for 3 and 1. He made amends in his second Test, however, scoring 96 against the South Africans. His maiden Test century came against Bangladesh in December 2004. Gambhir then made a number of starts in the home series against Pakistan in 2005, but was able to make only one half-century in six innings. He made 97 in Zimbabwe later that year, but failed to reach 30 against Sri Lanka at home, repeatedly struggling against Chaminda Vaas, and was subsequently dropped from the Test team. He was replaced in Tests by Wasim Jaffer, who made a double hundred and a hundred in seven Tests.

While Gambhir was out of the Test team, he played a number of One Day Internationals for India between 2005 and 2007. However, he was not selected for the 2007 Cricket World Cup as the selectors opted for a top-order of Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, and Sachin Tendulkar. After India's first-round exit from the tournament, Gambhir was selected for the One Day International on India's 2007 tour of Bangladesh. Gambhir scored his second century on that tour and was subsequently selected for the One Day International on India's tour to Ireland in 2007. He scored an unbeaten 80 against Ireland in the first game of that tour and was awarded the man of the match award for that effort. In the post-match interview, he indicated that performing more consistently was a top priority for his career as he had done so in the past.

Gambhir was selected in India's squad for the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, which India went on to win in South Africa, beating Pakistan in the final. Gambhir performed well in the shortest form of the game, ending the tournament as India's top run scorer, with 227 at an average of 37.83, including three half-centuries which included a crucial 75 runs off 54 balls against Pakistan in the final.

2008 started well for Gambhir. At home, he scored an unbeaten 130 in the Ranji Trophy final to help Delhi beat Uttar Pradesh by nine wickets just two days before the team for the ODI tournament in Australia was to be announced.

Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh pronunciation (help·info) (Punjabi: ਹਰਭਜਨ ਸਿੰਘ, born: 3 July 1980 in Jalandhar, Punjab, India) is an Indian cricketer. A specialist bowler, he has the second-highest number of Test wickets by an off spinner behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan.

Harbhajan made his Test and One Day International (ODI) debuts in early 1998. His career was initially beset by investigations into the legality of his bowling action and disciplinary incidents that raised the ire of cricket authorities. However in 2001, with leading leg spinner Anil Kumble injured, Harbhajan's career was resuscitated after Indian captain Sourav Ganguly called for his inclusion in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy team. In that series victory over Australia, Harbhajan established himself as the team's leading spinner by taking 32 wickets, becoming the first Indian bowler to take a hat trick in Test cricket.

A finger injury in mid 2003 sidelined him for much of the following year, allowing Kumble to regain his position as the first choice spinner. Harbhajan reclaimed a regular position in the team upon his return in late 2004, but often found himself watching from the sidelines in Test matches outside the Indian subcontinent with typically only one spinner, Kumble, being used. Throughout 2006 and into early 2007, Harbhajan's accumulation of wickets fell and his bowling average increased, and he was increasingly criticised for bowling defensively with less loop. Following India's first-round elimination from the 2007 Cricket World Cup, Harbhajan was replaced by other spinners in the national squad for both formats. He regained a regular position in the team in late 2007, but became the subject of more controversy. In early 2008, he was given a ban by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for racially vilifying Andrew Symonds. The ban was revoked upon appeal, but in April, Harbhajan was banned from the 2008 Indian Premier League and suspended from the ODI team by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for slapping Sreesanth after a match.

He was conferred the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour, in 2009.Harbhajan is an attacking-minded bowler who is regarded for his ball control and ability to vary his length and pace, although he is often criticised for his flat trajectory. His main wicket-taking ball climbs wickedly on the unsuspecting batsman from a good length, forcing him to alter his stroke at the last second. With a whippy bowling action, he was reported for throwing in November 1998. Although forced to travel to England for tests, his action was cleared by former English player Fred Titmus.

He has developed an ability to bowl the doosra, which was the subject of an official report by match referee Chris Broad, on-field umpires Aleem Dar and Mark Benson, and TV umpire Mahbubur Rahman after the Second Test between India and Bangladesh at Chittagong, Bangladesh in December 2004. The ICC cleared his action in May 2005, saying that the straightening of his elbow fell within the permitted limits.Anil Kumble (pictured), Harbhajan's former Test captain and long-time bowling partner.

Among off spinners, Harbhajan is the second highest wicket-taker in Test history, behind Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka. He is the third-highest Test wicket-taker among all Indians. Harbhajan average with the ball in home Test matches hovers in the mid-20s. All five of his man of the match awards and both of his man of the series awards have been obtained in India. Outside India, his bowling average climbs to around 40. Statistically, his bowling in Test matches is most effective against the West Indies and Australia. As of May 2008, his most productive hunting grounds have been Eden Gardens in Calcutta, where he has taken 38 wickets at 23.10 in six Tests, while the Chepauk in Chennai, where he has claimed two man of the match awards, has yield 34 wickets at 24.25 in five Tests. Harbhajan has claimed his wickets most cheaply at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, where he has taken 22 wickets at 19.45. Compared to Muralitharan, Harbhajan is less reliant on targeting the stumps for his dismissals; he captures more than 60% of his wickets via catches and less than 25% by bowling or trapping batsmen leg before wicket, whereas the corresponding figures for Muralitharan are in the 40s. Harbhajan's off spin complements Kumble's leg spin. While Harbhajan is known for his emotional and extroverted celebrations, which are part of a deliberate strategy of aggression, Kumble is known for his undemonstrative and composed approach. Both spinners have opined that they bowl more effectively in tandem via persistent application of pressure to batsmen, but statistics have shown that while Kumble has performed better when paired with Harbhajan, Harbhajan has been more effective in Kumble's absence.Ricky Ponting (pictured), has been dismissed by Harbhajan ten times in Tests.

Harbhajan has been particularly successful against Australian batsman Ricky Ponting, taking his wicket on ten occasions in Test cricket.

In an interview in 2001, Harbhajan stated his ambition to become an all-rounder. Although he has recorded a few half-centuries at Test level, his batting average hovers around 15 in both Tests and ODIs. However, in the span of four years starting from 2003, he has shown improved performance, averaging around 20 with the bat. His style is frequently described as unorthodox, with pundits agreeing with his self-assessment attributing his batting achievements to his hand-eye coordination, rather than his footwork or technique. The aggression in Harbhajan's bowling also extends to his batting, with a Test strike rate in the 60s, placing him in the ten highest strike rates among players who have scored more than 1000 runs in Test cricket.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, pronunciation (help·info) (Hindi: महेन्द्र सिंह धोनी) (born July 7, 1981 in Ranchi, Bihar) (now in Jharkhand) is an Indian cricketer and the current captain of the Indian national cricket team.

Initially recognized as an extravagantly flamboyant and destructive batsman, Dhoni has come to be regarded as one of the coolest heads to captain the Indian ODI side. Under his captaincy, India won the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, CB Series of 2007–08 , and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2008 in which they beat Australia 2–0. He also captained Chennai Super Kings to victory in the recent IPL 2010. He is now captain of India in all three forms of the game and also led the team to their first ever bilateral ODI series wins in Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Dhoni also led team India to number one position in ICC rankings in test cricket for the first time. Dhoni has also been the recipient of many awards including the ICC ODI Player of the Year award in 2008 and 2009 (the first Indian player to achieve this feat), the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour in 2009. As of January 2010, Dhoni is the highest ranked ODI batsman on the ICC Rankings List. Dhoni was named as captain of Wisden's first-ever Dream Test XI Team in 2009 and has topped the list of world’s top 10 earning cricketers compiled by Forbes. He was named as the captain of ICC World Test and ICC ODI teams for 2009.

The Indian team in the 2000s saw the use of Rahul Dravid as the wicket-keeper to ensure that the wicket-keeper spot didn't lack in batting talent. The Indian cricket establishment also saw the entry of wicket-keeper/batsmen from the junior ranks with talents like Parthiv Patel and Dinesh Karthik – both India U-19 Captains in the test squads. With Dhoni making a mark in the India-A squad, he was picked in the ODI squad for the Bangladesh tour in 2004/05. Dhoni did not have a great start to his ODI career, getting run out for a duck on debut. In spite of an average series against Bangladesh, Dhoni was picked for the Pakistan ODI series. In the second match of the series, Dhoni in his fifth one-day international, scored 148 in Vishakapatnam off only 123 deliveries. Dhoni's 148 erased the earlier record for the highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper, a record that he would re-write before the end of the year.

Dhoni had few batting opportunities in the first two games of the Sri Lankan bilateral ODI series (October–November 2005) and was promoted to No. 3 in the third ODI at Sawai Mansingh Stadium (Jaipur). Sri Lanka had set India a target of 299 after a Kumar Sangakkara century and in reply, India lost Tendulkar early. Dhoni was promoted to accelerate the scoring and ended the game with an unbeaten 183 off 145 balls, winning the game for India – an innings described in Wisden Almanack (2006) as 'Uninhibited, yet anything but crude'. The innings set various records including the highest Individual score in ODI cricket in the second innings,a record that still stands. Dhoni ended the series with the highest run aggregate (346) and was awarded the Man of the series award for his efforts. In December 2005, Dhoni was signed by BCCI to a B-grade contract, skipping the initial C-grade level due to his performance on the cricketing field.Dhoni bowling in the nets. He rarely bowls at international level.

India scored 328 in 50 overs with Dhoni contributing 68 in their first match of 2006 against Pakistan. However the team finished poorly, scoring just 43 runs in the last eight overs and lost the match due to Duckworth-Lewis method. In the third match of the series, Dhoni came in with India in a precarious situation and scored 72 runs off just 46 balls that included 13 boundaries to help India take a 2–1 lead in the series. The final match of the series had a repeat performance as Dhoni scored 77 runs off 56 balls to enable India win the series 4–1. In recognition of his consistent ODI performances, Dhoni overtook Ricky Ponting as number one in the ICC ODI rankings for batsmen on 20 April 2006. His reign lasted just a week as Adam Gilchrist's performance against Bangladesh moved him to the top spot.

Two canceled series in Sri Lanka, one due to the withdrawal of South Africa from the Unitech Cup due to security concerns and the replacement 3-match ODI bilateral series against Sri Lanka washed due to rain, was India's prelude to another disappointing tournament – DLF Cup 2006-07. Dhoni scored 43 runs as the team lost twice in three games and did not qualify for the finals. India's lack of preparation showed in the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy as they lost to West Indies and Australia, though Dhoni scored a half-century against West Indies. The story of the ODI series in South Africa was the same for both Dhoni and India as Dhoni scored 139 runs in 4 matches and India lost the series 4–0. From the start of the WI ODI series, Dhoni had played 16 matches, hit just two fifties and averaged 25.93. Dhoni received criticism on his wicket keeping technique from former wicketkeeper Syed Kirmani.

Preparations for the 2007 Cricket World Cup improved as India recorded identical 3–1 victories over West Indies and Sri Lanka and Dhoni had averages in excess of 100 in both these series. However, India unexpectedly crashed out the World Cup after losses to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Dhoni was out for a duck in both these matches and scored 29 runs in the tournament. After the loss to Bangladesh in 2007 Cricket World Cup, the house that Dhoni was constructing in his home-town Ranchi was vandalized and damaged by political activists of JMM. The local police arranged for security for his family as India exited the World cup in the first round.

Dhoni put behind his disappointment in the World cup by scoring 91* against Bangladesh after India were left in a tight spot earlier in the run-chase. Dhoni was declared the man of the match for his performance, his fourth in ODI cricket. He was also later adjudged the man of the series after the third game of the series was washed away. Dhoni had a good Afro-Asia Cup, getting 174 runs in 3 matches at an average of 87.00, with a blitzkrieg 139 not out of 97 balls, a Man Of The Match innings, in the 3rd ODI.

Dhoni was nominated as the vice-captain of the ODI team for the series against South Africa in Ireland and the subsequent India-England 7-match ODI series. Dhoni, who received a 'B' grade contract in December 2005, was awarded an 'A' grade contract in June 2007. And also he was elected as captain of Indian Twenty-20 Cricket Team for the World Twenty20 in September 2007. On 2 September 2007 Mahendra Singh Dhoni equalled his idol Adam Gilchrist's international record for the most dismissals in an innings in ODI by catching 5 English players and stumping one. He led India to the ICC World Twenty 20 trophy in South Africa with a victory over arch rivals Pakistan in an intensely fought final on 24 September 2007, and became the second Indian captain to have won a World cup in any form of cricket, after Kapil Dev. Dhoni took his first wicket and ODI wicket on 30 September 2009. He bowled Travis Dowlin from the West Indies. During the series between India and Australia, Dhoni hit an aggressive 124 runs in just 107 balls, in the second ODI, and a measured knock of 71 runs in 95 balls, along with Yuvraj Singh, saw India home by 6 wickets, in the third ODI.

Dhoni topped the ICC ODI Batsman rankings for several months continuously in 2009, it was Hussy from Australia who replaced him for the top spot in the beginning of 2010.

Dhoni had an excellent year in ODIs in 2009 scoring 1198 runs in just 24 innings at an astonishing average of 70.43. Dhoni was also the joint top-scorer in ODIs in 2009 along with Ricky Ponting, but the latter having played in 30 innings.

Munaf Patel

Munaf Musa Patel pronunciation (help·info) (born 12 July 1983, Ikhar, Gujarat, India) is an Indian cricketer who has also played for the West Zone in the Duleep Trophy and Gujarat, Mumbai cricket team and Maharashtra cricket team.

Born to a Muslim family which was opposed to cricket, Patel first gained prominence in 2003 at the age of 20 before he had even played first class cricket for Gujarat, when he was invited to the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai by the Indian chairman of selectors Kiran More. There he attracted the attention of visiting Australian captain Steve Waugh, and the director Dennis Lillee, a former Australian fast bowler with his raw pace. However, with the backing of Sachin Tendulkar, he was captured by Mumbai in a transfer deal, in late 2003, without ever representing his native Gujarat.

In 2004, he struggled with injuries, and was criticized by India A coach Sandeep Patil, who believed that he had a mental problem dealing with his injuries. He was also sent to Australian Institute of Sport for bio-mechanical analysis on his bowling action, to improve its efficiency. In August 2005, he transferred to Maharashtra, and after taking 10 wickets against England in a tour match for the Board President's XI, he was rewarded with his selection in the Indian Test Squad for the 2nd Test against England in Mohali, when he made his Test debut.

Patel recorded the figures of 7/97 on debut, including an impressive 4/25 in the second innings and demonstrated an ability to swing the ball in both directions.

In the 2005-2006 Test Series against West Indies, Munaf proved he was arguably the fastest bowler in India, bowling regularly at speeds of over 57 mph and has produced balls at a pace over the 60mph mark. However, more impressive than his ability to bowl at a very quick pace has been his control, a skill lacking in recent Indian fast bowlers. In the West Indies, however, Munaf suffered the ignominy of being hit for 6 fours in an over by Ramnaresh Sarwan. Patel fell short of the record of conceding the most runs off an over by 4 runs.

In the second match of the DLF Cup in Malaysia, Munaf came up with impressive figures of 3/54 against Australia, picking up the wickets of Phil Jacques, Michael Clarke and Stuart Clark. In the final game of the same tournament, he dismissed Australian captain Ricky Ponting for just 4, on the way to 1/32 off 9 overs.

In the first match of the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy against England, Munaf Patel again produced impressive figures of 3/18 - winning the match for India and gaining the man of the match award.He was part of the Indian 2007 Cricket World Cup squad which failed to progress from the group stage and played during India's One-day International series against Bangladesh shortly after the tournament before playing 2 games in England in August 2007. He took four wickets before being ruled out of the remainder of the series through injury. He was subsequently left out of the squad to play Pakistan in November although was recalled to the Test squad following injuries to R. P. Singh and S. Sreesanth.He was selected for the 2009 tour to Sri Lanka and played in the opening match. He bowled five wicketless overs for 32 runs. He then picked up a groin injury before the second match and was replaced in the squad by Lakshmipathy Balaji

He was brought back into the ODI squad for India's last preparatory series before the 2011 Cricket World Cup, with the series taking place in South Africa. After India were beaten quite handily in the first match, they made only 190 when Dhoni chose to bat first in the second match. However, Patel put in a Man of the Match performance to return personal best figures of 4/29 off nine overs, taking the final wicket of Wayne Parnell to lead India to a spectacular 1-run victory, India's first against South Africa in South Africa since 2003. He was eventually named to India's World Cup squad.

In India's first World Cup match against Bangladesh, Patel again took four wickets, albeit with India defending a comfortable 370 from their innings.

Piyush Chawla

Piyush Pramod Chawla pronunciation (help·info) (born 24 December 1988, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India) is an Indian cricketer who has played for the India U-19 team and the Central Zone. He is seen as a leg-spinning allrounder in domestic cricket, but has not fired as a batsman in the One Day International format.

He first played for India U-19 against the England U-19 team in 2004-05, claiming 13 wickets from two Under-19 Tests at a bowling average of just above 12. He also played in the 2005-06 home series against Australia U-19, where they won the five-match limited overs series 4-1, taking eight wickets.Piyush Chawla has a bowling speed of between 80 km to 85 rather he has also reached a maximum of 91km/ph

In the 2005-06 Challenger Trophy, Chawla was selected to play for India B. Although he only bowled three of a possible ten overs in the first match of the series, conceding 21, he picked up two wickets in the next match against India A, and as India B reached the final against the Seniors, he took the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar - bowled with a googly - in an effort described by Cricinfo as "impressive". He also dismissed Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, to end with three for 49, but the Seniors still won by three wickets. Two weeks later, he made his first class debut for Central Zone against South Zone in the Duleep Trophy, and scored 60 in a 92-run eighth-wicket stand with Harvinder Singh. He also finished with match bowling figures of 27.2-3-100-6, admittedly only getting one of the top five batsman once. He has been known by Kiran More since the age of 15 and at only 17 has potentially got a great cricketing future in front of him. He proved himself again when he took 4 wickets in 8 overs conceding only 8 runs in the U-19 World Cup final of 2006. He also made 25 (n.o.) runs.

This resulted in his selection in the Indian Test Squad for the 1st Test against England in Nagpur, in March 2006, and was selected for his debut in the 2nd Test against England in Mohali, making him the second youngest Test debutant for India after Sachin Tendulkar. It was in this Test that he claimed his sole wicket of Andrew Flintoff.

Piyush played his first ODI with India on 12 May 2007, against Bangladesh. His debut was highly successful, with him taking 3 wickets. In the second ODI with Ireland, he was equally impressive with three wickets.

In 2009, Chawla signed for Sussex County Cricket Club for a month, as cover for Yasir Arafat who was with Pakistan.

In his first County Championship match against Worcestershire, he took a total of 8 wickets in the match, and came in at number 9 in the first innings, and scored 102* from only 86 balls.

He has signed to play for Surrey as their overseas player in 2010, joining up with them after the 2010 IPL has finished.

Piyush was also selected for 2010 ICC World Twenty20 in West Indies.

Piyush Chawla has also been selected as part of Indian Team's 15-man World Cup Squad for the 2011 World Cup

Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin (born September 17, 1986) is an Indian national cricket team player, who plays for India and Tamil Nadu cricket team. He is a right-handed batsman and right arm off-break bowler. He is the only bowler of recent times apart from Ajantha Mendis of Sri Lanka to bowl the carrom ball. He also got selected in the Indian squad for upcoming World Cup championship.Ashwin is an all-rounder for Tamil Nadu and has taken 6/64 against Vidarbha in first-class cricket. He made his debut against Andhra Pradesh in Twenty20 cricket. He did his Engineering (B.Tech IT) in SSNCE. He plays first-class cricket for Tamil Nadu and has played in the Duleep Trophy for South Zone. He was nicknamed "Dada" during his U-19 days while touring Dharamsala.

He played for Chennai Super Kings in the 2010 Indian Premier League. He has a BCCI contract but has not yet played for the national team. His bowling spells in a few crucial matches for Chennai won him good appreciations. He was declared Man of the Match for his spell of 3/16 (4 overs) against Kolkata Knight Riders. Chennai won the match by 9 wickets.

He made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka on June 5, 2010. He scored 38 runs from 32 balls(4 fours and 1 six) in a losing game.

He became the highest wicket taker of the 2010 Champions League Twenty20 tournament for Chennai Super Kings in the tournament with 13 wickets and was adjudged as the player of the tournament and also got the Golden Wicket. During IPL 2011 auction which happened on 5th and 6th of january 2011, he has been retained by Chennai Super Kings for the amount of 900000$. Later, on that month he has been included in the squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 to represent India along with the spinners Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawla. He scored a decent 25 not out in the first warm-up match of India against Australia on 13 February 2011. His innings helped India post a score of 214 which looked difficult at one stage.

Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar pronunciation (help·info) (Marathi: सचिन रमेश तेंडुलकर; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket.In 2002, just 12 years into his career, Wisden ranked him the second greatest Test batsman of all time, behind Donald Bradman, and the second greatest one-day-international (ODI) batsman of all time, behind Viv Richards. In September 2007, the Australian leg spinner Shane Warne rated Tendulkar as the greatest player he has played with or against.

Tendulkar is the first and the only player in Test Cricket history to score fifty centuries, and the first to score fifty centuries in all international cricket combined; he now has 97 centuries in international cricket. On 17 October 2008, when he surpassed Brian Lara's record for the most runs scored in Test cricket, he also became the first batsman to score 12,000, 13,000 and 14,000 runs in that form of the game, having also been the third batsman and first Indian to pass 11,000 runs in Test cricket. He was also the first player to score 10,000 runs in one-day internationals, and also the first player to cross every subsequent 1000-run mark that has been crossed in ODI cricket history and 200 runs in a one-day international match. In the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, Tendulkar surpassed Australia's Allan Border to become the player to cross the 50-run mark the most number of times in Test cricket history, and also the second ever player to score 11 Test centuries against Australia, tying with Sir Jack Hobbs of England more than 70 years previously. Tendulkar passed 30,000 runs in international cricket on 20 November 2009. He also holds the world record for playing highest number of Test and ODI matches.Tendulkar has been honoured with the Padma Vibhushan award, India's second highest civilian award, and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, India's highest sporting honor. Tendulkar became the first sportsperson and the first personality without an aviation background to be awarded the honorary rank of Group Captain by the Indian Air Force. He has received honorary doctorates from Mysore University and Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences  He won the 2010 Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for cricketer of the year at the ICC awards.

Sachin Tendulkar is the most prolific run scorer in one-day internationals with 17,598 runs. With a current aggregate of 14240 Test runs, he surpassed Brian Lara's previous record tally of 11,953 runs as the highest run scorer in test matches in the second Test of Australia's 2008 tour of India in Mohali. Tendulkar described "It is definitely the biggest achievement in 19 years of my career" on the day he achieved the record. He also holds the record of highest number of centuries in both Test (51) and ODI cricket (46). Throughout his career, he has made a strong impact on Indian cricket and was, at one time, the foundation of most of the team's victories. In recognition with his impact on sport in a cricket-loving country like India, Tendulkar has been granted the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna Award, Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India. He was also chosen as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1997 and is ranked by the Wisden 100 as the second best test batsman and best ODI batsman of all time.

Tendulkar has also consistently done well in Cricket World Cups. Tendulkar was the highest run scorer of the 2003 Cricket World Cup and 1996 Cricket World Cup. Tendulkar has scored over 1000 runs in a calendar year in ODIs 7 times, and in 1998 he scored 1894 runs, easily the record for the highest number of runs scored by any player in a single calendar year for one day internationals. Tendulkar is also one of the very few players who are still playing in international cricket from the 1980s. On 24 February 2010, Tendulkar broke the previous world record for highest individual run scorer in an ODI and became the first male cricketer to score double century in ODI. He scored 200 runs and broke the previous record of 194 runs jointly held by Pakistan opener Saeed Anwar and Zimbabwe's Charles Coventry.

He has been Man of the Match 13 times in Test matches and Man of the Series four times, out of them twice in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. The performances earned him respect from Australian cricket fans and players. Similarly he has been Man of the Match 60 times in One day International matches and Man of the Series 14 times.

Sreesanth

Sreesanth (Malayalam: ശ്രീശാന്ത്‌) pronunciation (help·info) (born February 6, 1983 in Kothamangalam, Kerala, India) (also known as S. Sreesanth, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, and Sreesunth for a brief period), is an Indian cricketer. He is a right-arm fast-medium-pace bowler and a right-handed tail-ender batsman. In first class cricket, he plays for Kerala and in the Indian Premier League, he plays for Kochi. He is the first Kerala Ranji player to play Twenty20 cricket for India. He is noted for his exuberant and emotional behaviour, especially whilst appealing for and celebrating wickets. Such trademark behaviour has seen him frequently fined for violating the player conduct guidelines of the International Cricket Council. In October 2009, the BCCI and Kerala Cricket Association issued separate warnings to Sreesanth for indiscipline, failure of which could invite drastic actions such as ban from domestic cricket.

Outside cricket, Sreesanth is a psychology student. In his childhood, he was a breakdancer, and had become a national champion when he was in eighth grade.Sreesanth was born to Shanthakumaran Nair and Savithri Devi. He has one elder brother and a sister. His brother Dipu Santhan owns a music company in Kochi and his sister Nivedita is a television actress in Kerala. His brother in law, Madhu Balakrishnan is a famous South Indian playback singer.

Sreesanth initially was a leg-spinner in his childhood, modelling his action on India's leading Test wicket-taker Anil Kumble, who was to become his Test captain. However, his habit of bowling yorkers led him to convert to fast bowling, after being encouraged by his elder brother. Following in the footsteps of fellow Kerala fast bowler Tinu Yohannan, who earned selection to the National Cricket Academy in 2000, Sreesanth was selected for the MRF Pace foundation in Chennai. He then made his first-class debut against Goa in the 2002-03 domestic season, claiming 22 wickets in seven matches in the Ranji Trophy and winning selection for South Zone in the Duleep Trophy squad in the same season.

He was selected for India-A side in a tour match against the visiting New Zealand side at Rajkot. He claimed one wicket in twelve overs after being restricted with a hamstring injury. He also missed five Ranji Trophy games in that season, although he still travelled with the side for away games. This led to rumours that an astrologer convinced him to take a break from competition to preserve his longevity in the sport, which Sreesanth categorically denied, maintaining that he was training only to regain his fitness.

In November 2004, Sreesanth entered the record books when he took a hat-trick against Himachal Pradesh in a Ranji trophy game, the first time it was achieved by a Kerala bowler, earning him the nickname The Prince of hat-tricks amongst Keralites. He was selected to represent India B in the Challenger Trophy in October 2005, a domestic limited-overs tournament. He performed impressively in that tournament, earning the Man of the Series award and being the leading wicket taker (7) with the third best bowling average. This led to his selection to Indian team for the home ODI series against Sri Lanka.Sreesanth was given the new ball in the first ODI against Sri Lanka in Nagpur. After being punished early by Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya, Sreesanth returned to claim his first two ODI wickets at the end of the match. He was left out of the team and was later recalled for the fourth, fifth and sixth ODIs as coach Greg Chappell tinkered with the line-up. He was retained in the squad but did not play in the 5 match series against South Africa, but played all five matches in the tour to Pakistan, recording a haul of 4/58 in the fifth ODI against Pakistani cricket team in Karachi. A good home series against the England in April 2006, in which he claimed 10 wickets at an average of 16.3, including a career best 6/55 in the final match at Indore (in which he was awarded the man of the match award. led to him subsequently being awarded a BCCI contract, in the C-grade in May.

His disappointing economy rate led him to be left out of the ICC Champions Trophy squad of 14, with the beneficiary being R. P. Singh. He made an unexpected come back to the blue squad due to the injury to Ajit Agarkar later in the tournament. He was also out of the Indian ODI team for the England tour.

Suresh Raina

Suresh Kumar Raina (Kashmiri: सुरेश कुमार रैना (Devanagari), سریش کمار رائنا (Nastaleeq)) pronunciation (help·info) (born 27 November 1986) is an Indian cricketer from the town of Rainawari, a Kashmiri diaspora locality in Jammu & Kashmir. Raina has been a member of the Indian cricket team for ODIs since July 2005, and was included in the Test squad in early 2006, but did not make his test debut until the second test against Sri Lanka on the 26th July 2010. Domestically he plays for Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy and Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy. He is an attacking left-handed batsman, and a renowned fielder who is known for his ability to hit the stumps from the infield. He is also an occasional off-spinner.

Suresh Raina was the youngest in a Kashmiri Pandit family of five children, who have origins in the Rainawari quarter of Srinagar, a city in the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir. Raina decided to take up cricket seriously in 1999, and moved from Ghaziabad, near New Delhi to Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, to attend the specialist government Sports College. He rose to become the captain of the Uttar Pradesh U-16s came to prominence amongst Indian selectors in 2002, when he was selected at the age of 15 and a half years for the U-19 tour to England, where he made a pair of half-centuries in the U-19 Test matches. He toured Sri Lanka later that year with the U-17 team. He made his Ranji Trophy debut for Uttar Pradesh against Assam in February 2003 at the age of 16, but did not play another match until the following season. In late 2003, he toured Pakistan for the U-19 Asian ODI Championship before being selected for the 2004 U-19 World Cup, where he scored three half centuries, including a 90 scored off only 38 balls. He was then awarded a Border-Gavaskar scholarship to train at the Australian Cricket Academy and in early 2005, he made his first-class limited overs debut, and scored 645 runs that season at an average of 53.75. He was selected to participate in the Challenger Series in early 2005, and after injury to Sachin Tendulkar and suspension to captain Sourav Ganguly, Raina was selected for the Indian Oil Cup 2005 in Sri Lanka.

Raina had a difficult start to his international career, being dismissed for a golden duck by a doosra from spinner Muttiah Muralitharan. After scoring 37 runs in the tournament at an average of 12.33, and with the return of Ganguly from suspension, Raina was omitted from the starting XI for the tour of Zimbabwe. With Ganguly being sacked after a row with Indian coach Greg Chappell and Mohammed Kaif injured, Raina played in five of the matches against Sri Lanka in India, mostly as a supersub, and made a cameo 39 not out to guide the team to victory in the fourth ODI. He was again watching from the sidelines in the series against South Africa after Kaif's return and Gautam Gambhir forced his entry into the team with a century, but got another chance to become a regular member of the Indian middle order during the 2006 tour of Pakistan, after vice-captain Virender Sehwag returned home injured. He was only required to bat in one match, in which he helped guide the latter part of the successful run chase in the fourth ODI.

Upon his return to India, he was called up to the Test squad, at the expense of former captain Sourav Ganguly, although he did not play in the Test series against England. He earned his first man of the match award in the subsequent ODI series after scoing an unbeaten 81* in a successful run-chase at Faridabad. After scoring two more half-centuries in the series at an average of 48, Raina was awarded a BCCI C-grade contract. He was selected for both squads for the tour to the West Indies, but is yet to make his Test debut.

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli (born November 5, 1988) is an Indian international cricketer. He was the captain of the victorious Indian team at the 2008 U/19 Cricket World Cup held in Malaysia. He represents Delhi in first-class cricket. He played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2008 and 2009 Indian Premier League. He learned his cricket in the West Delhi Cricket Academy.

Kohli is a middle order batsman, who can also open the batting. Kohli with 784 points is on first position with South Africa’s batsman A.B. De Villiers in the ICC ODI rankings for Batsman. He is known for his shots through the cover region. He can also bowl right arm medium pace.Kohli first came into the limelight when he played for Delhi in a Ranji trophy match against Karnataka on the day of his father's death. His team mates needed him at a crucial moment when he was much more needed at home. But he said that he wanted to bat and scored 90 runs. This shows his determination towards cricket.The innings was crucial in saving the match for Delhi.

Kohli captained the victorious Indian team at the 2008 U/19 Cricket World Cup held in Malaysia. Batting at number 4, he scored 235 runs in 6 matches at an average of 47, including a century against the West Indies U-19s. He was also commended for making several tactical bowling changes during the tournament.

Kohli was instrumental in India's win of the 2009 Emerging Players Tournament in Australia. In the final against South Africa, Kohli scored a century for India. India went on to win the game by 17 runs. Kohli emerged as the leading run scorer of the tournament, aggregating 398 runs from seven matches including two centuries and two fifties.Kohli played for at the 2008 Indian Premier League. He was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore for $30,000 before the first season of IPL in 2008. He did not perform well in his first season of IPL, scoring only 165 runs in 13 innings at an average of 15 and taking only 2 wickets in his bowling both of them against Deccan Chargers and taking only 2 catches in the entire season. But he improved marginally in the second season of IPL scoring 215 runs of 11 innings with an average of 21.5 and taking 9 catches and 2 run outs. In the third season of the Indian Premier League he scored two half centuries. Interestingly he was the only player that Royal Challengers Bangalore retained, preferred over the likes of Rahul Dravid and Ross Taylor.

Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag pronunciation (help·info) (Hindi: वीरेंद्र सेहवाग) (born 20 October 1978, in Delhi, India), affectionately known as Viru, the Nawab of Najafgarh, or the Zen master of modern cricket, is one of the leading batsmen in the Indian cricket team. Sehwag is an aggressive right-handed opening batsman and a part-time right-arm off-spin bowler. He played his first One Day International in 1999 and joined the Indian Test cricket team in 2001. In April 2009, Sehwag became the only Indian to be honored as the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World for his performance in 2008, subsequently becoming the first player of any nationality to retain the award for 2009.

Sehwag holds multiple records including the highest score made by an Indian in Test cricket (319), which was also the fastest triple century in the history of international cricket (reached 300 off only 278 balls) as well as the fastest 250 by any batsman (in 207 balls against Sri Lanka on 3 December 2009 at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai). Sehwag also holds the distinction of being one of four batsmen in the world to have ever surpassed 300 twice in Test cricket, and the only one to score two triple centuries and take a five-wicket innings haul. In March 2009, Sehwag smashed the fastest century ever scored by an Indian in ODI cricket, from 60 balls.

Sehwag was appointed as vice-captain of the Indian team under Rahul Dravid in October 2005 but due to poor form, he was later replaced by V. V. S. Laxman in December 2006 as Test vice-captain. In January 2007, Sehwag was dropped from the ODI team and later from the Test team as well. During his term as vice-captain, Sehwag skippered the team in place of injured Dravid in 2 ODIs and 1 Test. Following his return to form in 2008 and the retirement of Anil Kumble, Sehwag has been reappointed as the vice-captain for both Tests and ODIs. By early 2009, Sehwag had reestablished himself as one of the best performing batsmen in ODI cricket.Sehwag was born in a Jat family from Haryana. The son of a grain merchant, Sehwag spent his childhood in a bungalow in a joint family, with siblings, uncles, aunts and sixteen cousins. Though now settled in New Delhi, the Sehwag family hails from Haryana. Sehwag was the third of four children born to father Krishan and mother Krishna Sehwag, with two older sisters Manju and Anju, and younger brother Vinod. His father attributes his interest in cricket to a toy bat which he was given when he was seven months old. He attended Arora Vidya School in Delhi, and pestered his parents to let him play cricket, on the basis that he was not academically gifted. His father tried to end his career when he broke a tooth as a child in 1990, but Sehwag evaded the ban with the help of his mother. Later he attended Jamia Milia Islamia for graduation.Sehwag made his debut for Delhi cricket team in first class cricket in the 1997–98 season. He was selected to the North Zone cricket team for the Duleep Trophy the following 1998-99 season, ending fifth in the total runscoring list. The following year he was fourth on the Duleep Trophy run scoring list, including a 274, the highest score of the competition. This was attained against South Zone at Agartala in just 327 balls, and followed a rapid 187 from just 175 in a Ranji Trophy match against Punjab. He was then selected for the U-19 team which toured South Africa. He was seventh in the 2000–01 season with two centuries, but his consistency earned the attention of selectors and he became a regular member of the national team in mid 2001.

Since his international career started, he has continued to play for Delhi in the domestic competition whilst he is not occupied with international duty and has captained North Zone to victory in the Deodhar Trophy in 2004–05 and 2005–-06. He also had a short stint with Leicestershire in county cricket in 2003, but a back injury lead to a mutual termination of the contract.

Yusuf Pathan

Yusuf Khan Pathan(born 17 November 1982 in Baroda) is an Indian cricketer. Pathan made his debut in first-class cricket in 2001/02. He is a powerful and aggressive right-handed batsman and a right-arm offbreak bowler. His brother Irfan Pathan is also an Indian cricketer. Though younger than Yusuf, it was Irfan who entered the Indian team first.Following his impressive performances in the 2007 Deodhar Trophy and the Inter-state domestic Twenty20 competition held in April 2007, Pathan was made a part of the Indian squad for the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship, held in South Africa in September 2007. He made his Twenty20 international debut in the final against Pakistan. He opened the batting for India in the match, and scored 15 runs in the process.

After a good domestic season in 2007/08, he was signed by the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League for USD 475,000 (INR 1.9 crore). In the 2008 IPL season, he scored 435 runs and took 8 wickets. He recorded the season's fastest half century (from 21 balls) against the Deccan Chargers, and was also the Man of the Match in the final against the Chennai Super Kings.

Following his good showing in the IPL, he was selected for the Indian one-day team. After the IPL though he played all the games in the Kitply Cup and Asia Cup he got to bat only four times. He could not perform very well with the bat and the ball in the Asia Cup and in the Kitply Cup and so he wasn't selected for the Series.against Sri Lanka. He performed well in domestic circuit and impressed the selectors and was selected for the England ODI series in November. He scored a fifty off just 29 balls in the second ODI against England in Indore, on his 26th birthday.

Yusuf had made his One-Day International debut for India against Pakistan at Dhaka on 10 June 2008. He became a regular feature of the national One-Day International team, but has yet to make his test debut.

Even though Pathan could not repeat his first IPL performance in the second season, he was selected in the Indian team to play the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 championships in England. In the second of the Super 8 matches of India, he made an unbeaten 33 from 17 balls against England, despite his team losing the game and crashing out of the tournament before the semi-finals.

In late-2009, Pathan was dropped from the limited overs team after a series of unproductive performances and the allrounder's position was taken over by Ravindra Jadeja.

In the final of the 2010 Duleep Trophy cricket tournament, Pathan scored a hundred in the first innings and a double hundred in the second and led his team West Zone to a three wicket win over South Zone. Pathan made 108 in the first innings and an unbeaten 210 from 190 balls in the second innings. This became a world record in cricket for the highest successful run chase in first class cricket history.

On 13 March 2010, Pathan scored a century off 37 balls, in an Indian Premier League match against Mumbai Indians. The innings also included record 11 consecutive hits to the boundary (6, 6, 6, 6, 4, 4, 6, 4, 4, 4, 4).

On 7 December 2010 Pathan magic seals win for India. Pathan clobbered the New Zealand attack with his aggressive innings, Yusuf Pathan smashed an unbeaten 123 from 96 balls and shared an unbroken 133-run partnership with Saurabh Tiwary to guide India to a huge target of 316 with seven balls to spare and give the hosts a 4-0 lead in the series.He was named man of the match. The all-rounder clubbed seven fours and seven sixes on the way to his maiden one-day century to help the hosts overhaul New Zealand's challenging 315-7 with seven balls to spare at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.

At the awards distribution ceremony he stated that "this knock will boost my career". Indian captain Gautam Gambhir said "I have always said Pathan can finish games on his own, and that's what he did today," "I had never seen something like this before. But I knew till the time Pathan was there, we would win the game."

New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori said "It was a great game of cricket," "We were in the game, but Pathan was pretty amazing and took the game away from us."

In the 2011 IPL auction, he was bought for $2.1 million by Kolkata Knight Riders.

In the MTN ODI series against South Africa before the 2011 World Cup, he gave a stand out performance in a match against South Africa in Pretoria where he scored a brilliant 105 in 70 deliveries (comprising 8 fours and 8 sixes), even though India lost the match, his performance was complimented heavily. During this knock, he reached his century off 68 balls which is the sixth fastest by an Indian and the second fastest by an Indian outside the subcontinent. His batting performance during the entire series has elevated his chance to be part of the playing XI for India in the upcoming World Cup.

Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh pronunciation (help·info) (Punjabi: ਯੁਵਰਾਜ ਸਿੰਘ, born 12 December 1981 in a Punjabi Jat family from Chandigarh, India) is a cricketer from India, and the son of former Indian fast bowler and Punjabi movie star Yograj Singh. He has been a member of the Indian cricket team since 2000 (ODIs) and played his first Test match in 2003. He was the vice captain of the ODI team from late-2007 to late-2008. At the 2007 World Twenty20 he hit six sixes in an over against England's Stuart Broad—a feat only performed three times previously in any form of senior cricket, and never previously in an international match between two Test cricket nations.Yuvraj first came to attention when he captained the U-19 Punjab cricket team in the final of the Cooch-Behar Trophy against Bihar U-19s, in which he scored 358. He then gained selection for the U-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka in January 2000, where he was part of a team lead by Mohammed Kaif which won the tournament. Yuvraj was subsequently selected in 2000 for the first intake of the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.

Yuvraj made his One Day International debut against Kenya at Nairobi in 2000, at the ICC KnockOut Trophy. He showed his potential in his second ODI which was against the Australians where he scored a quickfire 84 off 82 balls against a quality pace attack consisting of bowlers like Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie. However, after a lean run of form, he was dropped for the one-dayers against Australia in India in early 2001, but returned later in the year and helped India to victory in a match in Sri Lanka with an unbeaten 98.

One of his most memorable innings was a partnership with Mohammad Kaif in the NatWest Series final against England in July 2002 which led India to victory. He was selected and represented India at the 2003 Cricket World Cup. He scored his first century in his fourth season with the Indian team against Bangladesh in 2003. After that he also scored hundreds against Zimbabwe and Australia, including a 139 off 119 balls at the Sydney Cricket Ground. In the Indian Oil Cup 2005, he made 110 (off 114 balls) (his third century) and an important partnership worth 165 runs with Mohammad Kaif, to become the man of the match against West Indies in the last match of the round robin league. After reaching his century, he attracted attention by angry gesticulations to the Indian dressing room, which was postulated to be due to his clashes with team management - Greg Chappell had been appointed as the new Indian coach and he had criticised Yuvraj. He later praised Chappell's techniques.

Yuvraj had a good run of form late in 2005 and early in 2006, in the ODI format of the game. He was named as the man of the series in three consecutive series, against South Africa (joint with Graeme Smith), and then against Pakistan and England, in which he scored three centuries and four half-centuries in fifteen matches, which propelled him into the top ten of the ICC ODI batting rankings. During the Pakistan tour, at times when captain and vice-captain Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag were absent, Yuvraj was the on-field captain, indicating that he may be seen as a potential captain. In the next series in the West Indies, Yuvraj hit two fifties in four games, even though India lost the series 4-1. His performance was recognised with his shortlisting by the ICC as one of four nominees for the Internation One Day player of the year award.

Yuvraj missed the first game in the series after that, the tri-series against Australia and West Indies in Kuala Lumpur, due to illness and after failing to reach double figures in the following two games, was axed for Mohammed Kaif in the last group match. He showed signs of returning to form in the Champions Trophy, hitting a restrained unbeaten 27 to guide India to victory against England in the opening game after he was recalled in place of Kaif, but a knee injury forced him out of the final group match. He subsequently missed the tour of South Africa and was in doubt for the 2007 Cricket World Cup, but made a faster than expected recovery to play in the ODI series against the West Indies in India in January 2007. He struck a fluent 95* from 83 balls in India's final match against Sri Lanka before heading to the World Cup.

At the World Cup, Yuvraj only managed one fifty against a lowly Bermuda and along with rest of the squad, was criticized for India's first-round exit. Nevertheless, Yuvraj kept his place in the side for the tours of Bangladesh and Ireland in 2007.

In September 2007, he was named as the ODI vice captain of Mahendra Singh Dhoni after the resignation of Rahul Dravid. He then scored 121 in a losing cause during India's One-day International series defeat at the hands of Australia before enjoying a return to form as India beat Pakistan 3-2 on home soil in November 2007 and he was named Man of the series. In the five matches, he scored four half-centuries, although he was fined after showing dissent in the final match in Jaipur.

In November 2008, he hit 138* from 78 balls against England at Rajkot, taking 64 balls to reach his century, which at the time was the second fastest by an Indian in ODIs, after Mohammad Azharuddin's century in 1988 against New Zealand came off 62 balls. After reaching 50 from 42 balls, he added a further 88 in the next 36 balls. He did so despite straining his back, which necessitated the use of Gautam Gambhir as a runner. This was followed by 118 from 122 balls and a 4/28—all his wickets being specialist batsmen—in the next match in Indore, earning him two consecutive man of the match awards.

Zaheer Khan

Zaheer Khan (Marathi: झहीर खान) pronunciation (help·info) (born 7 October 1978, Shrirampur town in Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra), is an Indian cricketer who has been a member of the Indian cricket team since 2000.

A left arm Fast bowler considered as the spearhead of the Indian bowling attack, Zaheer is known for his ability to swing the ball both ways, and as a batsman also holds the record for the highest Test score by a No. 11. After leading the Indian pace attack for much of the early 2000s, recurring hamstring injuries in 2003 and 2004 forced him out of the team, and after returning for a year, he was dropped again in late 2005. Strong performances on the domestic circuit have seen him recalled to the team as its leading pace bowler.Zaheer is also a pioneer in the art of reverse swing bowling

Zaheer was selected in 2000 for the first intake of the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, He made his Test debut against Bangladesh at Dhaka and ODI debut against Kenya at Nairobi during the ICC KnockOut Trophy in the same year.

In late 2005 pacemen Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and R. P. Singh made their international debuts and became regular members of the Indian team making it difficult for Zaheer to retain his position in the playing eleven. The Board of Control for Cricket in India demoted Zaheer from a B-grade to a C-grade contract at the end of the year.

He returned for the 2006 tour of Pakistan, where India fielded three left arm pacemen and had difficulty dismissing Pakistan with a lack of variety in the bowling attack. Zaheer, with inferior results to those of Irfan Pathan and Singh, was dropped.

In Indian domestic cricket, Zaheer made his name playing for Baroda, but transferred to Mumbai at the start of the 2006-07 Indian cricket season his debut for Mumbai until the final of the Ranji Trophy in which he took 9 wickets as Mumbai defeated Bengal.

In 2006 Zaheer signed for Worcestershire County Cricket Club as their second overseas player as a replacement for Australian Nathan Bracken. He became the first Worcestershire player to take 10 wickets in a match on debut for over 100 years against Somerset, even though Worcestershire eventually lost the game. In June 2006 he took the first nine wickets to fall in the first innings against Essex, ending with 9-138; had wicket-keeper Steven Davies not dropped a catch offered by last man Darren Gough he would have become the first bowler ever to take all ten for the county.

In late 2006, Zaheer was recalled to the Test and ODI team for the tour of South Africa, following a form slump to Baroda team-mate Irfan Pathan and injuries to Munaf Patel. After consistent performances on tour, his performance in early 2007 in home ODIs against the West Indies and Sri Lanka, including a career best 5/42, saw him named in the squad for the 2007 Cricket World Cup. He is moulded on the likes of Wasim Akram and Chaminda Vaas, though not as successful as they are.

He won the Man of the Match award in the first test between India and Australia, at Bangalore, in the 2008-2009 series for his all round performance with the bat and the ball. He became the third Indian, after Rusi Surti and Kapil Dev, to score a half century and take five wickets in an innings in the same match against Australia. He has since become the strike-bowler and a permanent fixture in the Indian team.Zaheer also won the Man of the Match award in the T20 Worldcup 2009 against Ireland for taking 4 wickets by giving only 19 runs.

Khan is currently tied with James Anderson of England at No.4 in ICC Test bowlers ranking.

He has taken over 250 ODI wickets at an average of 26 runs per wicket taking 4 wickets in a match 6 times (4 times against Zimbabwe) including 32 wickets against Zimbabwe at an average of 17.46 runs per dismissal. He, along with other seamers like Javagal Srinath and Ashish Nehra helped India to make it to the finals of the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Zaheer finished the 2003 World cup as 4th highest wicket taker - 18 wickets from 11 matches at an average of 20 runs per wicket. Zaheer will be the mainstay of Indian bowling attack considering the inexperience in the squad during th Cricket World Cup 2011.

(source:wikipedia)