Ganguly to retire after Australia Tests

Sourav Ganguly, ex-India captain and one of India’s finest left handed batsmen, has announced his retirement from international cricket. In a press conference in Bangalore, Sourav announced his retirement in front of a room full of shocked journalists. Dada informed that the current four match series against the Australians will be his last.

Ganguly said that, “I have spoken to my teammates and hopefully I will go out on a winning note.”

Ganguly, 36, has scored 6888 runs in 109 Tests, with 15 hundreds. He played 49 Tests as captain, the most by an Indian. The 21 matches won during his tenure is also an Indian record, and his win percentage of over 40 is the highest for players who have captained Indian team in more than one Test. Starting with a hundred on debut, Ganguly’s Test average has never dipped below 40.

In 311 ODIs, he scored 11,363 runs at 41.02. He captained India in 147 ODIs. His last ODI was against Pakistan in Gwalior on November 15, 2007. He is one of only three players to complete the treble of 10,000 runs, 100 wickets and 100 catches in ODIs, Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar being the others. Along with Tendulkar, he formed a prolific partnership at the top of the order, with 6609 runs at an average of nearly 50 per stand in 136 innings.

WE MISS YOU SO MUCH DADA

India’s first moon mission to take off on Oct. 22

India is going to launch a locally built rocket for the country’s first unmanned mission to the moon on Oct. 22.The launch, earlier scheduled for April but delayed due to technical difficulties, has been given a window between Oct 20 and Oct 28 for takeoff from a southern town.Six countries, including the United States, are directly involved in the project, which will cost an estimated 3.86 billion rupees ($80.8 million).It aims to map a three-dimensional atlas of the moon through high-resolution remote sensing and map the surface’s chemical and mineral composition.Chandrayaan will  carry as many as 11 payloads — five from India, three from the European Space Agency (ESA), one from the Bulgarian Space Agency (BSA) and two from NASA, making it a truly global initiative.

Here is a very good video on India’s Moon Mission Animation.