Ashwin finished 2015 as World No 1 Test cricket bowler

        Star India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has ended 2015 as the No. 1 Test bowler in the ICC rankings issued on Thursday on the back of his strong showing against South Africa in the recent home series.

       Ashwin, who took 62 wickets in nine Tests this year including 31 scalps in the four matches against South Africa, became the first India bowler since Bishen Bedi in 1973 to achieve the milestone of finishing the year on top.

       In fact, Bedi, an ICC Hall of Famer, is the only India bowler to ever top the Test bowling table, while Bhagwath Chandrasekhar, Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble peaked at number-two during their careers. 

      Ashwin achieved the number-one spot for first time in his career after injury prevented South African Dale Steyn from bowling more than 3.5 overs in England’s second innings in the Durban Test.

     

      Steyn had started the Durban Test leading Ashwin by four points and now trails the India off-spinner by the same margin. Even though the fast bowler bagged four wickets in the first innings, these were not enough for him to end the year as the number-one ranked bowler for the sixth time since 2009.

Ashwin’s successful season was reflected in his ranking after he started the year in 15th position and slowly but surely moved to the top of the chart.

       In a double whammy, the 29-year-old also ended the year as top-ranked Test all-rounder.

  

       “Finishing the year as the number-one ranked Test bowler is like an icing on the cake that I have managed to build over the past last 12 months. I always wanted to get there one day. There can’t be a better way to finish the 2015,” Ashwin said, reacting to the news.

“Replicating what Mr. Bedi did is something I am very proud of. The former India captain was a master at his craft and I am very humbled to follow in his footsteps.

  

       “I would like to thank my Test captain Virat Kohli, who has been a big influence, and, of course, the team management, my team-mates and the BCCI for their continued support,” said Ashwin.

  

       Another Indian, Ravindra Jadeja, who also had an impressive outing against the South Africans, ended the year at sixth. Ashwin and Jadeja are the only two Indians in the top 10 rankings of the Test bowlers.

   

      Meanwhile, Ajinkya Rahane ended at 11th among Test batsmen and he is the only Indian in the top 20. 

“I always loved to be out in the playfield – be it cricket, football or even tennis. I wasn’t brilliant in academics but still good enough to get about 70 per cent marks thanks to the great support from my dad who is my childhood hero,” he said with a sporting smile which drew spontaneous applause for his sincerity.

why cristiano ronaldo is famous?

                       He's considered one of the greatest and highest paid soccer players of all time. Cristiano Ronaldo was born on February 5, 1985, in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal. Manchester United paid £12 million to sign him in 2003—a record fee for a player of his age.

Biography of Cristiano Ronaldo

With a buyout clause valued at €1 billion, he is the most expensive footballer in history. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’ll be learning more about the life and career of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Early Life

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was born February 5th, 1985 in Madeira, Portugal. He grew up in a blue-collar area, where his mother helped earn money for the family due to his father’s alcoholism. He found football as a child and was already considered a marvel by age 10.

Sporting Clube de Portugal

After playing as a youth player for Andorinha for two years, he moved to C.D. Nacional and finally made the jump to Sporting Clube de Portugal. As a testament to his incredible potential, Ronaldo played for Sporting’s under-16, under-17, under-18, B-team and the first team all within one season, and was the only player ever to do so.

Emergency Surgery

When he was just 15, a health problem threatened to end his career before it started, but an operation fixed his racing heart and allowed him to continue onto greatness.

Manchester United

It wasn’t long before teams around the league were clamoring to secure this young talent. In 2003, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson signed him for £15 million, and Ronaldo became the club’s first-ever Portuguese player. Bearing the same jersey number as legends like George Best, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham, Ronaldo proved he was worth the money by helping the team secure an FA Cup win the next season.

International Play

After scoring his first international goal in the opening game of the EURO 2004 tournament against Greece, he led his squad to the finals, only to be beaten by the Greeks in a surprising upset.

Father’s Death

In 2005, Ronaldo’s father passed away due to a condition related to his alcoholism. This caused Ronaldo to shun alcohol, and he focused on his career even more.

2006-2007

2006-2007 was an important season for Ronaldo: he managed over 20 goals and took home a league title for Man U. He also became the first player to win all four main PFA and FWA awards, and signed an extension with the club despite rumors that his loyalties lay elsewhere.

More Success

Though he started the following season with a three-match ban thanks to a controversial headbutt, it was in 2008 that he won the Champions League with Man U. With that, he became the first winger to win the European Golden Shoe, while he also took home the Premier League Golden Boot award.

FIFA World Player of the Year

The awards continued piling up, and Ronaldo became Manchester United’s first Ballon d’Or winner in 40 years, as well as the first Premier League player ever to be named FIFA World Player of the Year.

Skills

It was Ronaldo’s combination of skills like dribbling, speed, power and pace, plus his capacity for beating goalies with his head and feet, that made him a unique threat. He was labeled by many as one of the greatest players in history.

Real Madrid

But finally, in 2009, Ronaldo’s wish to leave Man U was granted: he was transferred to Real Madrid for a record £80 million. By his second season, he was Real’s top goal scorer with 53 goals in one season. He also hit 100 goals faster than anyone in the history of La Liga.

Ronaldo vs. Messi

When he won the European Golden Shoe Award in Madrid for 2010-2011, he became the first player to win the trophy in two different leagues. However, soon Lionel Messi – who played for Real Madrid’s archrivals FC Barcelona – eclipsed Ronaldo’s glory. But, Ronaldo got the last laugh when Real Madrid won La Liga in 2012.

Legacy

Despite accusations by fans and the media that Ronaldo showcased an individualistic technique or selfish style, he has been nothing short of extraordinary in club play. However, his performance with Portugal has been lackluster: he made little impact during his World Cup showings in 2006 and 2010. Time will tell if Ronaldo will be propelled to the top of his sport at the international level, as well.

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Garath bale's biography - Assist and Goal maker

              Gareth (Frank) Bale was born in Cardiff on July 16th 1989. His dad’s name is Frank (school caretaker) and his mom’s name is Debbie (operations manager). He went to Eglwys Newydd Primary School at Whitchurch. He was spoted by the Southamptom scouts right in this school at the age of 9 while playing 6v6 tournament. His nephew is a former Cardiff City player, Chris Pike. His favourite player as a kid was Manchester UTD legend Ryan Giggs.

             Bale went to Whitchurch High School in Cardiff. He continued with good performances in sports, not only in football but in rugby and hockey too. At age of 14 Gareth could run 100 meter sprint in 11.4 seconds. Because of his amazing football skills, the school’s PE teacher, Gwyn Morris, had special rules for Gareth, and that was to play one-touch football and not use his preferred left foot. While at Whitchurch, Bale trained for Southampton’s academy in Bath, although they had some doubts if they should give him a scholarship because of his height.

           Being only 16, he played for the school’s under-18 side and won the Cardiff & Vale Senior Cup. He graduated high school in 2005 with of course Grade A in PE. As a senior he was awarded with the PE department’s prize for services to sport. As a comment, Morris (his school’s PE teacher) said:

          “Gareth has a fierce determination to succeed and has the character and qualities to achieve his personal goals. He is one of the most unselfish individuals that I have had the pleasure to help educate.”

            Bale began his professional career playing for Southampton, as a left back, getting reputation as a free kick specialist. After he transfered to Tottenham Hotspur in 2007, his team gave him a more offensive role. After an initial rocky period at the Lane, he put in a string of dazzling performances both domestically and in Europe that attracted the attention of clubs across the continent. Real Madrid came calling, and he currently plays for a star studded side with the likes of Ronaldo, Benzema, Khedira, James and Kroos as his teammates.

Gadget buffs may have to forego their fix - The Hindu

              “May it be while driving or crossing the road or even while performing daily life tasks such as eating or using the washroom, people just cannot move away from their technological gadgets,” the text of the draft Bill notes. “This problem is slowly but steadily penetrating into Indian households and has the capability of destroying the ethos of cultural traditions of the country.” Through the Bill, Mr Gupta makes a case to recognise addiction to gadgets as a mental illness and a form of substance abuse, while insisting that the government take steps to create appropriate awareness about the addiction through television, radio and print. 

           “Our whole existence today is dependent on gadgets. Even at social gatherings people are busy checking their Whatsapp messages or Twitter feed. There is no human interaction,” Mr Gupta told The Hindu on the rationale behind his Bill. “This is also affecting our health. There are reports that say it impacts our cervical angle.” While most Bills are proposed by the government, those presented by individual MPs are described as private member's bills. Generally, most private bills do not get passed. They act as an instrument to draw attention to a particular issue. 

              Interestingly, there are about a dozen free application that are available for download on Android or an iOS powered device that help users keep a tab on their smartphone addiction levels and even remind them to take some time off from the digital world. Most of these apps work in a similar manner, tracking and monitoring the amount of time a user spends on the phone and giving a heads-up when it might be time for a break. Some of these are: 

BreakFree: It monitors phone usage in the background and notifies user incase they have used a particular app for long or are making too many calls or have used the phone for over an hour.

AppDetox: It lets users set their own rules for usage of different applications such as Facebook and Twitter. Every time the rule is violates, AppDetox reminds the user to take a break.

Smartphone addiction Timerlock: Parents can use this to restrict children’s access to other applications on the device for a certain period of time.

Dinner Time: Another handy app for Parents. It allows real time monitoring of the child’s phone. Parents can set time limits for how long the child can use their device or a specific app.

Forest: Stay Focussed: A user can plant a seed in Forest (app) that gradually grows into a tree in 30 minutes. However, if user cannot resist temptation and leaves this app to check Facebook or play a game, the little tree will wither away.

Ganguly's Cricket records

Batting Record

           Very early in his ODI career in 1997, Ganguly created a world record by winning four consecutive Man-of-the-Match awards against Pakistan in Toronto. It is still a world record 18 years since.
It was in the ODI format that Ganguly really came into his own as a batsman and dominated many bowling attacks. At his peak, he was a dangerous batsman at the top of the order, who could tear apart any bowling line-up on his day.
His trademark waltz down the track to take on fast bowlers was a thing of beauty. His timing on the off side was second to none, and he could tear apart left arm spin bowling at will.
Ganguly was the highest run scorer in ODI cricket in the world in 1997, 1999 and 2000. At that time, he was at the peak of his powers as an ODI batsman.
Ganguly used to hit a lot of sixes too, meeting the ball halfway down the track to dispatch both fast bowlers and spinners. He is currently placed sixth on the list of maximum number of sixes hit in ODI cricket with 190 sixes, although Mahendra Singh Dhoni (188*) and AB de Villiers (170*) are hot on his heels.
‘Dada’ also holds the record for the maximum number of double century partnerships (6) in ODI cricket, a record he shares with Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting.
He is the proud holder of a mind-boggling 30 Man-of-the-Match awards in ODI cricket, which is sixth in the all-time list.
Ganguly has 22 centuries in ODI cricket and is placed sixth in the list of highest century scorers in ODI cricket. Only Tendulkar, Ponting, Kumara Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya and most recently Virat Kohli are above him in this list while Dilshan, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers are currently level with the former Indian batsman.

specific records:

1. Ganguly is the seventh Indian cricketer to have played 100 Test matches.
2. He is currently the 6th highest overall run scorer for India in Tests.
3. Ganguly is the second among Indians after Sachin Tendulkar (who has the highest ODI runs in the world) and the eighth in the world in terms of overall runs scored in ODIs.
4. Ganguly has 22 centuries in ODIs and is only behind Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya and Ricky Ponting in that list.
5. Sourav, along with Sachin Tendulkar, formed by far the most successful opening pair in one-day international cricket, having amassed the highest number of century partnerships (26) for the first wicket. Together, they scored nearly 7,000 runs at an average of 49.32.
6. Ganguly is a world record holder for creating most number of 50-run partnerships for the first wicket (44 fifties).
7. He captained India in 49 Test matches and led India to 21 Test wins, both of which were Indian records until MS Dhoni bettered them.
8. His Test average never went below 40.
9. Ganguly holds the record for most 200+ ODI partnerships (6 times) along with Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting.
10. He holds the record, shared with Sachin Tendulkar, for most first wicket ODI partnerships of 175+ runs (7 times).
11. He holds the record, shared with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, for the fifth highest score by an Indian cricketer in an ODI – 183, against Sri Lanka in 1999.
12. He held the record, shared with Sachin Tendulkar, for the highest first wicket partnership in an ODI match, 258, against Kenya in 2001. This record was bettered by the Sri Lankan opening pair of Jayasuriya and Tharanga in 2006 at Headingley.
13. He was involved in the first 300 run ODI partnership with Rahul Dravid.
14. Ganguly is also the only player to win four consecutive man-of-the-match awards in ODIs.
15. He’s India’s second most successful ODI captain after Mohammed Azharuddin.
16. He was the first Indian to score an ODI century against Australia in Australia.
17. He was the highest ODI run-scorer in the world (in a calendar year) in 1997, 1999 and 2000.
18. He’s placed fifth on the list of maximum number of sixes hit in ODIs.
19. He’s on the second spot in the list of highest number of centuries in a single calendar year ever – 7 centuries in 2000.

saff suzuki cup india - Robin singh saves india's blushes

•         Striker Robin singh did the star turn for host india as it kick started its campaign with a patchy 2-0 win over sri lankan in the SAFF suzuki cup football championship at the greenfield stadium here on friday.
•         Robin singh's brace (51st and 74th) saved india's blushes against an overtly defensive srilankan side.
•        The margin of victory could have been higher for india but srilankan captain and goal keeper don sujan perera was virually unbeatable under the bar.
•        He made at least five good save and indian striker jeje was the denied at least thrice by perera.
•        coach constatine made four changes to the indian team that played guam in the world cup qualifiers in november.
•        Lalpekhlua, pronoy Halder , sanju pradhan and augustin fernandez were drafted into the team but the side did hot have to work for too long to striker rhythm.
•        The host started in a fluorish earning couple of corners and free kicks inside the first five minutes.
•        Captain sunil chettri had a header saved early by perera in the sixth minute.
•        The sri lankan captain then had to come out of his position to deny lalpekhlua in the 10th minute after the striker was put through by eugeneson lyngdoh.
•        Thereafter, sri kanka employed the tactics it had used so successfully against nepal in the opening match, it became overtly defensive and made no attemps to launch an attack at the indian goal.
•        To their credit, the sri lankans defended stolidly and whenever the indians managed a go at the goal perera was alert to thwart the indians.
•       Sri lanka completed its league engagements in Group-A with three points but will have wait for the final match between india and nepal on sunday to know its fate.

Vijay Hazare Trophy: MS Dhoni's top score not enough as Jharkhand bow out

Bengaluru, Dec 23:

                 

   India's limited overs captain MS Dhoni struck his first half century (70 not out) of this year's Vijay Hazare Trophy but his effort went in vain as Delhi defeated Jharkhand by 99 runs to enter the semi-finals today. At the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday (December 23), Jharkhand were set a target of 226 by the Gautam Gambhir-led side, in the quarter-final. But the run chase was rocked early on by the pace duo of Ishant Sharma and Navdeep Saini who reduced Jharkhand to 9/4 in 5.1 overs.

                   Jharkhand never recovered from those blows and it was left to Dhoni to wage a lone battle but it was always going to be tough. Dhoni kept losing partners and finally the innings folded at 126 in 38 overs on a slow pitch. Dhoni, who struggled to score even a single half century in the league phase, today came out with an unbeaten 70 off 108 balls (5x4, 4x6). The next best score for Jharkhand was 16 by Ankit Dabas. Opening batsman Ishan Kishan, who will lead India Under-19 team at next year's World Cup, fell for just 1 run, bowled by Ishant. For Delhi, right-arm medium paceman Subodh Bhati was the highest wicket-taker with figures of 4/21 in 10 overs (2 maidens). Ishant was outstanding, bowling 4 maidens in his 7-over spell with 2/21 returns. Navdeep took 3/31 in 8 overs. Earlier, Nitish Rana topscored with 44 as Delhi posted 225 all out in 50 overs. From 178/7, Delhi were helped past the 200-mark thanks to Pawan Negi's 38 not out.

  Scores in brief : 

                  Delhi 225 all out in 50 overs (Nitish Rana 44, Pawan Negi 38 not out, Shikhar Dhawan 27, Rishabh Pant 24, Manan Sharma 21, Gautam Gambhir 20, Rahul Shukla 3/60, Varun Aaron 2/43, Ankit Dabas 2/46) beat Jharkhand 126 all out in 38 overs (MS Dhoni 70 not out, Ankit Dabas 16, Subodh Bhati 4/21, Navdeep Saini 3/31, Ishant Sharma 2/21, Pawan Negi 1/21). 

 

Result: Delhi won by 99 runs and entered the semi-finals

T20 India tour of Aussie 2016 squad

• Shikhar Dhawan
• Rohit sharma
• Virat kholi
• Ajinkya Rahane
• Yuvraj Singh
• MSDhoni (captain)
• Suresh Raina
• Ravichandran Ashwin
• Jadeja
• Mohammed Shami
• Harbhajan Singh
• Umesh Yadav
• Hardik Pandya (debut)
• Bhuvneshwar kumar
• Ashis Nehra

ODI Team Squad for India tour of Australia 2016

ODI Squad 2016 for aussie

• shikhar Dhawan
• Rohit Sharma
• Virat Kholi
• Rahane
• Manish Pandey
• MSDhoni
• Ashwin
• Jadeja
• Mohit Sharma
• Mohammed Shammi
• Axar Pate
• Ishant Sharma
• Umesh Yadav
• Gurkeet singh
• Rishi dhawan
• Sran

Vardhin- footballing his way to Harvard

The Young Inspiration:



     It isn't everyday that a 16 year old gets and offer from Harvard University, that too for his sporting skills. for Vardhin Manoj the dream has came true thanks to his footballing talent

    Vardhin an 11th grade student at La  Costa Canyon High school, California, was offered a place in the Harvard soccer squad after impressing with his goal scoring skills in the western region competitions and has given his assent to playing for the university's Division 1 college team.
   

    In the city for a family function, Vardhin said he was primarily a forward and loved scoring goals, but also had the ability to track back to the midfield when the situation demanded.

Vardhin is a United States citizen by birth. His parents, Manoj Prasad and Lakshmy Manoj, are both IT professionals, tracing their origin to Kerala.

      Vardhin has been playing at the highest level of age-group football in the US, sponsored by the US Soccer Federation under its development academy. Part of the San Diego Surf Academy’s under-16 team, Vardhin has also been selected for the Olympic Development Programme and been in the California squad for five seasons.

     Besides being the top goal-scorer for the Surf Academy for two consecutive years, Vardhin was also among the top-10 scorers for Region IV in 2014.

While Vardhin, who has managed to score impressive grades in academics as well, expressed his keenness to make a career out of football in the European leagues, he insisted he wasn’t averse to trying his luck in the Indian Super League as well.

ICC WORLD CUP INDIAN SQUAD for 2015

M.S.Dhoni (captain &wk)
V.Kholi
R.Sharma
S.Raina
R.jadeja
R.Ashwin
S.Dhawan
B.Kumar
M.Shami
A.Rahane
S.Binny
I.Sharma
A.Rayudu
A.Patel
U.Yadav

Ranji Trophy, Group B: Yuvraj Singh on the verge of 3rd successive ton

Rajkot: Mandeep Singh struck his maiden century of this Ranji Trophy season while Yuvraj Singh was nearing his third successive ton as Punjab reached 327 for three on Day 1 against Saurashtra on Sunday.

Yuvraj was batting on 95 alongside Mandeep, who was on 154 off 228 balls. Medium pacer Sudeep Tyagi was the most successful bowler for Saurashtra with figures of two for 51 in 15 overs.

Yuvraj made a statement with another solid knock after not being named among the 30 probables for the 2015 World Cup. The stylish left-hander smashed 11 boundaries and couple of sixes in his 176-ball effort. He had scored 59 and 130 in Punjab's tournament opener against Haryana before making 136 in the first innings against Maharashtra in Pune.

Brief scores: Punjab 327 for 3 in 90 overs (Mandeep Singh batting 154, Yuvraj Singh batting 95; Sudeep Tyagi 2 for 51, Kamlesh Makwana 1 for 81) against Saurashtra.

Odisha bowl out Haryana for 127 on a green-top

Odisha won a good toss as their seam trio of Basant Mohanty, Suryakant Pradhan and Deepak Behera skittled out hosts Haryana for a paltry 127.

At stumps, Odisha did well to finish at 39 for no loss having seen off the final 18 overs in the day. They now need 88 runs to take the first innings lead.

Earlier, it was Odisha skipper Abhilash Mallick, who won the toss and promptly put the hosts into bat.

Basant (3 for 40), Suryakant (3 for 35) and Deepak (3 for 33) shared the spoils equally amongst themselves as Abhimanyu Khod (38) could make a significant contribution. The green-top and conditions aided seam bowling and the Odisha bowlers pitched it in right areas to gain maximum advantage as Haryana were all out in only 41.1 overs.

The post-lunch session on second day is best for batting and Odisha would want their former captain Natraj Behera (29 batting) to capitalise on the start that he has got.

Another man, who has played a lot at this venue is Biplab Samantray and his experience will come in handy.

Brief Scores: Haryana 1st innings 127 in 41.1 overs (Abhimanyu Khod 38, Basant Mohanty 3 for 40, Suryakant Pradhan 3 for 35, Deepak Behera 3 for 33). Odisha 1st innings 39 for no loss in 18 overs (Natraj Behera 29 batting).

Rajasthan on top despite Shrivastava ton

Shalabh Shrivastava struck an unbeaten 105 to take Vidarbha to 236 for six against Rajasthan on day one.

Vidarbha captain Subramanian Badrinath chipped in with 47 while Ravi Jangid made 43.

Rajasthan captain and medium pacer Pankaj Singh led from the front by taking four wickets and giving his team an upper hand going into day two.

Aniket Choudhary took the remaining wickets to fall on the opening day.

Brief scores: Vidarbha 236 for 6 in 84 overs (Shalabh Shrivastava batting 105; Pankaj Singh (4 for 85).

Delhi reach 178/1 after Unmukt, Gambhir provide solid start

Back in form after his fluent century against Rajasthan, Unmukt Chand made full use of playing against below-par Gujarat attack with an attractive unbeaten 97 that took Delhi to a comfortable 178 for one.

With only 53 overs of play possible on another fog-hit day, Delhi batsmen made full use of a low and slow Feroz Shah Kotla track as Unmukt, in company of skipper Gautam Gambhir (66), added 171 runs for the opening stand.

Unmukt looked confident from the onset as he punished both pacers and spinners alike. When medium pacer Ishwar Chaudhary dropped one short, he was quick to rock back and play the perfect pull-shot behind square for maximum.

He hit three more sixes -- two off off-spinner Jesal Karia's bowling in the arc and one off left-arm spinner Pranjal Sutaria apart from 12 boundaries in 170 balls.

Another three runs would give him sixth century in first-class cricket and second successive in the tournament.

Gambhir, on his part was a bit scratchy to begin with but grew in confidence watching his opening partner in full flow. He also hit two sixes apart from five fours. One came off Sutaria and other off seamer Kushang Patel.

The India discard should be cursing himself for not converting into a big hundred as he missed the line of a Karia delivery to be bowled. Gambhir faced 143 deliveries.

The absence of Axar Patel did hurt Gujarat, who are also handicapped in the batting department due to the absence of their regular skipper Parthiv Patel, who pulled out complaining of cervical pain.

The two new ball bowlers, Rush Kalaria and Kushang were at best military medium and they even failed to hit the deck properly which meant that batsmen had all the time in the world to play their strokes. The odd edge to the slips didn't even carry due to the low and slow nature of the track.

At stumps, Virender Sehwag was at the other end undefeated on 2.

Sehwag normally bats at No 4 but Delhi coach Vijay Dahiya said that the veteran batsman has been seny up to play his natural game and prop up the team total in quick time.

"I would say 350 is a good first innings score on this track. We have sent Virender Sehwag up specifically for that reason ahead of our regular No 3 Varun Sood. Sehwag can easily up the ante. We have got a good start and we would like to capitalise on that," Dahiya told the reporters.

Brief Scores: Delhi 1st Innings 178 for 1 in 53 overs (Unmukt Chand 97 batting, Gautam Gambhir 66, Virender Sehwag batting 2) vs Gujarat.

Harbhajan, Yuvraj refuse to comment on Dhoni's retirement

Rajkot: Former India offspinner Harbhajan Singh and his Punjab team-mate Yuvraj Singh, both axed from the national team, on Tuesday offered no reaction on the India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's retirement from Test cricket.

"I will not say anything as I have nothing to say," said Harbhajan.

His teammate Yuvraj Singh was tight-lipped when reporters asked for his reaction at the end of the third day's Ranji Trophy match.

Dhoni on Tuesday announced retirement from Test cricket after drawing third test against Australia in Melbourne.

Dhoni's decision to quit midway surprised BCCI

Team director Ravi Shastri told a website, "When he (Dhoni) walked into the dressing room, got the team together and said what he had to, he caught us all off guard. There were no dramas, he just said, very openly, 'I can't play all formats anymore, so I'm announcing my retirement from Tests.' He has always been someone who will do what he wants to, and he stayed true to that till the last moment. To have the guts to say to his team that he could not go on playing all formats, it tells you how honest he is with himself and his mates."

Dhoni surprised the cricket world with his sudden announcement of immediate retirement from Test cricket, making way for Virat Kohli to don the mantle of captaincy.

Dhoni’s retirement is largely his acceptance of failure

We should have seen it coming. The man had spelled it out clearly at a press conference at Perth in January 2012: “If I want to see the 2015 World Cup, I’ll have to retire from one of the formats,” MS Dhoni had said on the eve of a game India went on to lose by an innings, one of the infamous 0-8 overseas losses.

But we didn't. When he picked up a stump after the Boxing Day test, we assumed it would be an unusual addition to his collection of stumps that have seen better results, wider smiles. This stump would mark the end of his fairly average test career, despite what the emotional op-eds are saying in today’s papers.

Read it as you may, or wait for his autobiography, but knowing of Dhoni’s ways, his retirement ‘with immediate effect’ is largely his acceptance of failure. By leaving no time for ceremonial farewells or elaborate goodbye tours by teams of friendly cricket boards, all MS seems to be saying is, ‘I screwed up, but the team must move on.’ And hasn't Dhoni’s ‘it may not be correct, but it just feels right at this time’ way of doing things, defined his captaincy?