Cricket has been played in India as early as 1721, but the first club - Calcutta Cricket Club - was set up only in 1792. It is now called the Eden Gardens. Cricket then, was played only by the Europeans.

Bombay hosted the first match where Indians played cricket. First played between Parsees and Europeans, but later on, joined by Hindus, Mohammedans and Christians, in a competition that became known as The Pentangular, cricket was fast becoming popular here.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India came into being in 1928, which launched the national competition between "princes and the princely states" - later on called the Ranji Trophy.

India burst into the top cricketing teams with a World Cup win in 1983, defeating the favorites West Indies in the finals.

Post the 1983 win, they won the Asia Cup in 1984 and the World Championship of Cricket in Australia in 1985, further establishing their status as the ODI champions. This period also saw Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar reached the pinnacle of their careers. But India was still considered a weak team outside the subcontinent.

The emergence of Tendulkar in 1989, quickly filled the gap left behind by Gavaskar's retirement after the 1987 World Cup. His performance on the field endeared him to the entire country. To a nation where cricket is religion, Sachin Tendulkar became God. The arrival of Javagal Srinath as a genuine fast bowler laid the foundation for the next generation of quickies in a team that was traditionally spin-heavy. Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, along with Sachin Tendulkar, formed the trinity of the famed Indian Batting line up in the 1990s and early 21st century.

Post the debacle of the Indian team in the 2007, the Indian cricket team has undergone a major transformation. In Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma, India has found the opening attacking pair, similar to the much feared pair of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis in the mid 90s. Sehwag and Gambhir have become the most feared opening batsmen, akin to Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes of the West Indies in the 80s. In Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India has a stable middle order that is capable of switching on the agression mode, at any given time. With Yousuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan, India finally has a tail that can wag for a very long time.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni clearly picked up from where Saurav Ganguly left, injecting a new age aggression and optimism in the team. Often called Captain Cool, Dhoni is counted as one of India's most successful captains at home and abroad.

Now India's performance in the upcoming series against Sri Lanka is to be seen.