THE INDIAN CRICKET TEAM
The Indian cricket team is an international cricket team representing India. Cricket of India has millions of fans across the country. It is one game that unites the whole of India. The Indian Cricket Team is currently the highest paid sports team in the world. It is governed by the, Board of Control for Cricket in Idia, the cricket governing body in India.
History
India played its first Test in 1932. The first match was played against England at the Lords. India lost the Test. The Indian Cricket Team had to wait till 1952 to register its first win and the feat came when they defeated England at Madras. In the 1960s, the team really improved their game and began to emerge as one of the stronger sides in cricket. By the 1970s, the team had created a strong position for themselves in world cricket. The 1980s was a wonderful decade for India. Not only did they win the 1983World Cup, they also won the Asia Cup twice. In the recent past India have performed very well and continue to assert their position as a strong opponent. They reached the finals of the 2003 World Cup and finished runners up.
Performance
It might have taken the Indian Cricket Team 20 years to register their first international win, but ever since, India have just kept improving their game over the years. India is the sixth nation to have gotten Test status. The team has acquired a reputation of being invincible at home and quite weak while playing away matches. However this pattern seemed to change in the last five years or so when the team started to win Tests abroad and even defeated strong teams like Australia and West Indies in their respective countries. India have also played well in the ODIs and had a very successful World Cup in 2003 where they overcame every challenge to cruise into the final, only failing to overcome the final hurdle against Australia. The team has not done very well in the recent series against the West Indies, and were unlucky to miss out on a series against Sri Lanka due to bad weather. With the World Cup coming up, the team will surely pull their socks up and perform to their full potential.