Mahendra Singh Dhoni, 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 Lankaand 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.

VIRENDER SEHWAG

Virender Sehwag ,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.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's scoring rate is extremely quick, at 103.44 runs per 100 balls (it is exceeded only by one current player: Shahid Afridi, who has a much lower average). He has had more success in run chases, scoring seven of his thirteen centuries while chasing. He has led India on seven occasions, due to the unavailability of the incumbent due to illness, injury or rotation policy. In 2011 World Cup, Sehwag scored 175 in 140 deliveries and reached the legendary score that Kapil made 28 years ago.

HARBHAJAN SINGH

Harbhajan Singh, 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 32wickets, becoming the first Indian bowler to take a hat trick in Test cricket.2006 began with Harbhajan's first tour to arch-rivals Pakistan. The First Test was a high scoring draw held in Lahore, where Harbhajan recorded his worst ever Test figures of 0/176, conceding more than five runs an over in a match where 1,089 runs were scored for loss of just eight wickets.Harbhajan has been particularly successful against Australian batsman Ricky Ponting, taking his wicket on ten occasions in Test cricket.

SACHIN TENDULKAR

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar ,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 99 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 Ratnaaward, 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.

SURESH RAINA

Suresh Kumar Raina (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.UK based newspaper Sunday Times reported that ICC is investigating why didn't BCCI investigate the reports sent to them by Sri Lanka Cricket about Raina's alleged link with a woman associated with a book maker. However BCCI spokesperson denied any such event happening. It is unclear whether ICC or BCCI or both investigating the issue further or not.

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.

YUVRAJ SINGH

Yuvraj Singh, born 12 December 1981 in a Punjabi 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 led by Mohammed Kaif which won the tournament.Yuvraj was subsequently selected in 2000 for the first intake of the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.On 19 September 2007 against England in the ICC World Twenty20 Super 8 match held at Kingsmead in Durban, he hit 6 sixes in an over up against Stuart Broad. This helped him to reach the fastest fifty ever in Twenty20 game, off just 12 balls and also the fastest in any form of international cricket.This was the fourth time that six sixes had been hit in one over in senior cricket, the first time in Twenty20 cricket, and the first time in any form of international cricket against a bowler from a test playing nation. He has also hit the longest six of the tournament:119 meters off of Australian bowler Brett Lee and currently is the world's leading 20-20 batsman in terms of strike rate. Yuvraj was awarded a Porsche 911 car for his 6 sixes achievement by the Vice President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Lalit Modi. Yuvraj also received Rs.10,000,000 (US$252,716) in cash from the BCCI for his splendid performance in the tournament.

Yuvraj also scored 70 runs off 30 balls and went on to claim the Man of the Match against Australia in the World Twenty20 semifinals at Durban.

He was the icon player and captain for Indian Premier League team Kings XI Punjab. On 1 May 2009, Yuvraj picked up his first hat-trick in T20 cricket against Royal Challengers Bangalore at Kingsmead in Durban, the same ground where he hit his six sixes. He dismissed Robin Uthappa, Mark Boucherand Jacques Kallis. On 17 May 2009, Yuvraj picked up his second Twenty20 hat-trick against Deccan Chargers at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. Yuvraj dismissed Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Symonds and Venugopal Rao.

In 2011, Yuvraj Singh was bought by the Pune Warriors during the IPL Auction. On 8th March 2011, The Warriors announced that Yuvraj Singh will be their captain for IPL 2011.

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 aggressiveright-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 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 inIndore, on his 26th birthday.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.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.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.

GAUTAM GAMBHIR

Gautam Gambhir was born on 14 October 1981, in Delhi is an Indian opening batsman. He has been a member of theIndian 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.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.

ZAHEER KHAN

Zaheer khan was born on 7 October 1978,in Shrirampur town in Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra.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.

ODI career

He has taken over 250 ODI wickets at an average of 29 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.He is also making an important role in ICC 2011 world cup.