Top cricketing moments

New Delhi: Year 2014 is about to end in few days and looking back at it, the 'Gentlemen's game' was full of ups and downs. MS Dhoni's shocking retirement from Test cricket with immideate effects in between Australia's Tour, Rohit Sharma's world record of 264 runs, Phil Hughes demise and abruptly pulled-out tours, controversies, historic wins and defeats, 2014 had it all.Here is a flash back of top Cricketing Moments took place in the year:1) Shocker: Dhoni's retirement from Test cricket with immediate effectsAt the end on the 2014 when India played its last Test of the year, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's announcement of retirement came as a shocker.Dhoni retired from Test cricket with immediate effects in between Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2014 handing over the captaincy to Virat kohli to lead the Indian team.Dhoni played his first Test match against Sri Lanka in 2005 and took the captaincy in 2008. MSD has scored 4876 runs in his Test career.Under the captaincy of Dhoni India played 60 Test (27: Won, 18:Lost, 15:Draw)Among his several records on the field a fresh one is 134 stumping. He broke the world record on day two of the third cricket Test against Australia in Melbourne.2) Phil Hughes' tragic demise:Year 2014 saw the demise of a very talented young Cricketer from New South Wales, Australia on 28th November which shook the whole cricket fraternity. Phillip Hughes, a promising opener for the Aussies died after being hit by a deadly bouncer bowled by Sean Abbott during a domestic cricket match. Hughes succumbed to the head injury after being in coma for two days. Shocked and saddened cricket fraternity paid tribute and attended his funeral in his home town Macksville.Traumatized by the incident cricket world, particularly Australia, the 1st Test of India, originally scheduled to begin from December 4th, rescheduled and played from December 9th. This was the first kind of incident in the history of cricket when a cricket Test was rescheduled due to a death.This created a huge stir around the world across all the cricket experts raising questions over the safety of cricketers.3) Rohit Sharma "264": Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma broken some great batting records in his way to score highest individual innings of 264 runs off just 173 balls in an ODI.During his mind-boggling innings against Sri Lanka, Rohit also made the record for hitting the most number of boundaries (33) by an individual during his innings.He also becomes the only batsman to register two double centuries in ODIs. He scored his first double ton (209) against Australia last year.Earlier Virender Sehwag created a record after scoring 219 against West Indies in 2011.4) 'Playing IT My Way; Sachin's autobiography and controversies: 'Playing It My Way', an autobiography by Sachin Tendulkar was one of the most awaited books in India and all over the world for the cricket fans. Though it sparked controversy much before its official release, it has broken all records in pre-ordering of books.The book is written by Sachin Tendulkar and Boria Majumdar who is the co-author of the book and also a journo plus cricket historian.Tendulkar's 'Playing It My Way' opened Pandora's Box and revealed incites about Indian Cricket and its inside talks. The book also described Chappell's coaching tenure (2005-2007) of Indian Cricket team as 'the darkest phase of the Indian Cricket.' He also expressed his feelings on the stress he had during his captaincy of the team.5) India's Tour of England; Anderson-Jadeja spat:India's tour of England was much talked for altercation between Jadeja-Anderson. Jadeja and Anderson were involved in an altercation while returning for a break during Trent Bridge Test at Nottingham on July 1.According to reports, Anderson was said to have pushed Jadeja with his hands, but no evidence were there to prove it. While Jadeja accused Anderson of abusing and threatening.James Anderson was charged with ICC's Level 3 charges and Jadeja with level 1. But after ICC Chief Dave Richardson held the matter into his hands, the players were set free due to lack of evidences from both the sides.6) India's historic win at Lord's:Team India played comprehensive cricket and re-wrote history when the side - led by Ishant Sharma's 7/74 - beat England by 95 runs to win any test match at Lord's after a long wait of 28 years on July 21, 2014.This was also India's first overseas win since 2011.India last won a Test at the Lords way back in 1986, when as many as 10 of the touring squad were not even born.7) IPL spot-fixing: Indian Premier League may have become a platform for cricketers to showcase their talent and get wealthy but for BCCI, N. Srinivasan and his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan it has become the “Indian Problem League”.In order to keep the 'Gentleman's game' as it is, the apex court of India, Supreme Court made strong observations based on Mudgal Committee report.Mudgal Committee filed final report in probe against N Srinivasan and others in the 2013 edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) in betting and spot-fixing scandal in Supreme Court.After Supreme Court's observations BCCI, N. Srinivasan, Chennai Super Kings, Sundar Raman (IPL COO) and MS Dhoni are under the scanner.8) West Indies pull-out of India tour:West Indies cricket team arrived in India for 5 ODIs, a T20I and 3 tests but due to pay dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), players decided to abandon the tour after 4th ODI.It stirred a controversy in ODI cricket as it was not the first time Windies have abandoned the tour in the mid way. BCCI wanted strict actions against and demanded huge sum in compensation. ICC let off West Indies Cricket board and players with a warning that if any incident of this kind is repeated in the future, then the T20 contracts of the players involved will also be terminated.BCCI then contacted Sri Lanka cricket to fill in the loss caused by West Indies. The tour was scheduled in a hurry that broke the rhythm of the Sri Lanka team which was preparing for the England series and the World Cup. The emergency tour of 'under cooked' Sri Lanka against India resulted in a series disaster for them. India whitewashed Sri Lanka by 5-0.9) Suspected illegal bowling actions:Four international bowlers were suspended in the year 2014 for illegal bowling actions and put under the scanner to get their action right.The year proved to be a bad year for Pakistan Cricket team as two of their main strike bowlers first Saeed Ajmal and later Mohammad Hafeez were banned from bowling for their illegal bowling action by ICC.Its a major blow for Pakistan's preparation for the World Cup however Pakistan Cricket Board is trying its level best to make the action corrected and approved before World Cup.Sri Lanka's Sachitra Senanayake and New Zealand's Kane Williamson were also banned for suspected bowling action but later the ban was taken back.10) Corey Anderson fastest ODI century:A record that stood for more than 17 years was finally broken on New Year's Day in 2014. Corey Anderson bludgeoned the West Indies bowlers to score the fastest ODI century, off just 36 balls, eclipsing the record of 37 set by a 16-year-old Shahid Afridi in 1996.Irrespective of the format, this was the fastest ever international century.He blasted 14 sixes in his innings of 131, two behind Rohit Sharma's world record of 16 and New Zealand's sixes tally stood at 22, another world record.11) Kevin Pietersen controversy:One of the biggest controversies of the year was triggered when ECB sacked the swashbuckling English batsman Kevin Pietersen from the national side after a 5-0 whitewash by Australia in return Ashes.Upset from this, he launched his autobiography accused many senior players having a bullying culture and said that he was a victim of that culture.He also targeted the coach Andy Flower, accusing him of building a regime instead of a team.Alastair Cook hitting back at Pietersen, strongly defended Andy Flower and said KP has tarnished an era of cricket. Flower was believed to be hurt and angered by Pietersen's attack on his legacy and astonished that anyone could accuse him of condoning a bullying culture.12) 200 years celebration of Lord's cricket ground:The 200th anniversary of the Lord's Cricket Ground was indeed a special event. With the likes of Warne, Tendulkar, Lara, Dravid, Pietersen, Muralitharan among many others to be involved, the Rest of the World XI vs the Marylebone Cricket Club XI put up enthralling battle at Lord's on Saturday, where MCC emerged winners.To celebrate the occasion a bicentenary exhibition match was played between Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and Rest of the World (ROW) team here on 5th July 2014. It was a treat for cricket fans around the world to witness the Sachin Tendulkar-Shane Warne rivalry once again on the field as they were the captains of MCC and ROW respectively.13) Brendon McCullum blitzkreigBrendon McCullum knocked out Sri Lanka on Boxing Day with the fastest century in New Zealand's Test history. Not content with that, he nearly broke the world record for the quickest double-hundred, but fell five runs short - for 195 off 134 deliveries. With 18 fours and 11 sixes in his innings, he missed another record of hitting maximum sixes in an innings which is currently in the name of Wasim Akram who hit 12 sixes.New Zealand finished on 429 for 7 in the 80th over - the second-highest they have ever made in a day's Test cricket - having maintained a run-rate of 6.63 in the final session despite McCullum's exit. He also became the first New Zealander to score 1000 test runs in a calendar year.The English have hailed Brendon McCullum as international cricket's player of the week, the Australians have labelled him "a mould unto himself" and Asian cricket writers suggest he is "the best batsman in the world".McCullum's previous test innings was 202 against Pakistan in Sharjah in November.The kiwi skipper capped a remarkable year for himself and his team.14) India ends year with yet another series loss abroadIndia lost yet another Test series this time against Australia after, losing the test series to New Zealand early this year.The continuence of the poor performance on foreign soil followed by 1-3 loss to England.When India embarked on tour of Australia not much was expected due to their dissmal performance abroad. Though India trail 0-2 in the 4 Test series, The Indian batsmen led by Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Murali Vijay were impressive considering the menancing Australian pace attack.Virat Kohli, the poster boy of Indian cricket, led the team for the first time in the Test due to the absence of injured regular captain MS Dhoni.While India lost first two Tests it managed to draw the third one. Fourth and the final Test starts in the first week of 2015.