Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman is a former Indian international cricketer and a former cricket commentator and pundit. A right-hand batsman known for his elegant stroke play, Laxman played as a middle-order batsman in Test cricket. Laxman is currently the Head of Cricket at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), and the head coach of the India Under-19 and India A teams. Laxman was a member of the Indian team that was one of the joint-winners of the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy, which the title was also shared with Sri Lanka.
The Border–Gavaskar Trophy is an International Test cricket series played between India and Australia. The series is named after distinguished former captains, Australia's Allan Border and India's Sunil Gavaskar. It is played via the International Cricket Council's future tours.
Pakistan toured West Indies for three ODIs and two Tests in May and June 2005. Pakistan got off to a great start in the warm-ups by beating the Antigua & Barbuda President's XI by 248 runs at Antigua and continued with a 59-run win in a low-scoring first match at St Vincent. The West Indian fans were to be disappointed again, though, as their team slumped to two successive losses in the ODIs at Gros Islet – losing the series 0–3, meaning that their home ODI record for 2005 read no wins, eight losses. They recuperated in the Tests, however, giving Pakistan eight and a half days of good cricket before imploding with the bat in the final innings to lose the second Test and thus having to settle with a drawn series, 1–1.
The Indian cricket team toured Zimbabwe for cricket matches in August and September 2005. The Indians played in the Videocon Tri-Series in Zimbabwe, winning three of five matches but losing the final to finish second in the three-team tournament, and they played Zimbabwe for two Test matches in September 2005. The hosts Zimbabwe were ninth out of ten teams in the ICC Test Championship, with their last win against the top eight Test nations coming in June 2001, against India. They did not manage to win a match here either, as India, led by the performances of fast bowler Irfan Pathan, won the series 2–0 after an innings win in the first Test and a 10-wicket win in the second. India consolidated their third place in the Test championship with the win, which was also their first series win in Zimbabwe in four attempts.
The England cricket team toured Pakistan from October to December 2005. England were looking to maintain the form that had taken them to second place in the ICC Test Championship, and to victory in the 2005 Ashes series at home to Australia, but they suffered a sharp reversal of fortune, losing the Test series 2–0 to Pakistan. Pakistan also won the one day series by 3–2. This would be England's last tour of Pakistan until 2022.
Mohammad Asif is a Pakistani former cricketer who played for the Pakistani national cricket team between 2005 and 2010.
The India national cricket team toured Pakistan for cricket matches during the 2005–06 season. Both India and Pakistan had already played Test matches during this season; India were coming off a 2–0 series win at home over Sri Lanka, while Pakistan beat England by the same margin. In ODI cricket, India's last series, in November 2005, ended in a 2–2 draw with South Africa, while Pakistan beat England 3–2 in December 2005. The tour began on 7 January 2006 with India playing Pakistan A in a non-first class game, and continued till 19 February.
The Indian cricket team made its Test cricket debut in 1932 and has since advanced to be among the top four test teams in the in each of 2005 to 2008. The team won the ODI Cricket World Cup in 1983 and 2011. In other major International victories, Team India won the Twenty20 World Cup in 2007 and ICC Champions Trophy in 2002 and 2013.
The Indian cricket team toured South Africa for three Tests, five Odis & one T20I from 16 November 2006 to 6 January 2007.
India's 2003–04 tour of Australia was composed of seven first-class matches, including four Tests. India also participated in an ODI tri-series with Australia and Zimbabwe. The Test series was drawn 1–1, and India retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy because of their victory in the Trophy's previous contest. In the 2003–04 series' Adelaide Test, Rahul Dravid scored a double century, securing a famous win for India. Sachin Tendulkar scored 241* in Sydney, which up until that point in his career was his highest score in a Test match. Captain Sourav Ganguly made his first test century against Australia, a 144 in Brisbane that gave his team a lead of 86 after they were in trouble. VVS Laxman played consistently well throughout this series, most notably his contribution in the Adelaide test is well remembered. This series was also the last for Steve Waugh, who had captained Australia to a record equalling 16 consecutive test match victories and had 41 victories in 57 Tests.
The India national cricket team toured England from 19 July to 8 September 2007. The tour included 3 Tests and 7 ODIs. During the Test series, the Pataudi Trophy, a prize commissioned by the MCC to commemorate the 118th anniversary of India's Test debut, was competed for. This was designed and created by Jocelyn Burton, Holborn, London.
The Chappell–Ganguly controversy was caused by a series of events in late 2005 and early 2006 which involved highly publicised infighting in the Indian cricket team between the then newly appointed coach Greg Chappell and captain Sourav Ganguly. The dispute resulted in the removal of Ganguly as captain and his replacement by vice-captain Rahul Dravid in November 2005, with Ganguly being dropped from the ODI team. Ganguly was also dropped from the Test team at the end of January 2006. The dispute stirred up strong emotions in India, ranging from fiery street protests in Ganguly's home town of Kolkata and his home state of West Bengal, to speeches in the Parliament of India. Eventually Ganguly was recalled to the team in both forms of cricket in late 2006 after his replacements lost form, and was selected as a part of the Indian team for the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
Mohammad Younis Khan PP SI is a Pakistani professional cricket coach and former cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team in all three formats of the game, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest middle-order batsmen in Test cricket. Khan is the only Test cricketer in the history of the game to score a century in all 11 countries that have hosted Test matches. Under his Captaincy Pakistan won the 2009 World Twenty20.
The Pakistan national cricket team toured India in November 2007 and played five ODIs and three Test matches between 6 November and 12 December. India won the ODI series by a 3–2 margin, while the Test series was won by a 1–0 margin.
The Indian cricket team began a tour of Australia in December 2007, playing the 4 match Test series for the Border Gavaskar Trophy, followed by a single Twenty20 match on 1 February 2008. They also participated in the Commonwealth Bank tri-series against Australia and Sri Lanka from 3 February to 4 March.
The 2008–09 international cricket season was between September 2008 and March 2009. The season saw the security concerns for cricket in Pakistan reach a pinnacle. The ICC Champions Trophy, scheduled to be held in Pakistan in September 2008, was postponed to 2009 after five of the participating nations refused to send their teams for the event. In November 2008, a Pakistani militant group launched terror attacks in Mumbai. This led to India cancelling their tour of Pakistan originally scheduled for January and February 2009. Sri Lanka agreed to tour Pakistan in place of India. However, the tour was jeopardised by a terror attack in Lahore where gunmen fired at a bus carrying the Sri Lankan team, injuring six team members. The Champions Trophy was later relocated to South Africa. No international cricket were played in Pakistan for more than five years. This period of isolation ended when Zimbabwe toured Pakistan in May 2015. After successfully hosting a few T20Is against World-XI, the Sri Lanka cricket team and the West Indians from 2017 to 2018, a few matches of the Pakistan Super League from 2017 to 2019, the whole season in 2020 as well as hosting complete tours against Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi cricket teams respectively during the 2019–20 season, built a good reputation of Pakistan. Hence, by the end of 2019, the Pakistan Cricket Board, announced that they would no longer play any of their future home matches at a neutral venue, indicating that International Cricket has returned to the country on full-time basis.
The 2003 Cricket World Cup Final was a One Day International (ODI) match played on 23 March 2003 at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. It marked the culmination of the 2003 Cricket World Cup, the eighth edition of the tournament. It was the first time these two teams had met at this stage of a World Cup. For defending champions Australia it was their fifth World Cup final, while for India it was the second after their 1983 victory. Australia won the match by 125 runs to claim the title for the third time.
The Indian national cricket team toured Pakistan during the 2003–04 cricket season. India played five One Day International matches and three Test matches against the Pakistan cricket team. The series was called the Samsung Cup for sponsorship reasons. India won the ODI series 3-2 and the Test series 2–1.
The 2002 ICC Champions Trophy was a cricket tournament that was held in Sri Lanka in 2002. It was the third edition of the ICC Champions Trophy – the first two having been known as the ICC Knock Out Tournaments. The tournament was due to be held in India, but was switched to Sri Lanka when an exemption from tax in India was not granted. Fifteen matches were to be played in the tournament including two semi-finals and a final match.[1] All the matches were played in Colombo at two grounds: R. Premadasa Stadium and Sinhalese Sports Club Ground. It was the first time that the teams of all International Cricket Council (ICC) member nations visited Sri Lanka to participate in a cricket tournament.[1]
The 2007 ICC World Twenty20 Final was a Twenty20 International cricket match played between India and Pakistan at the Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa. Administered by the International Cricket Council (ICC) it was the culmination of the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 which was the inaugural edition of the tournament. India won by defeating Pakistan by five runs. The teams had previously played each other in a Group-D match of the tournament, which was also won by India.
Salman Butt 
Krishna Hariharan (On-field)
Simon Taufel (On-field)
Clive Lloyd (Match Referee)
