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Opinion

India's cricketing year in review

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Roar Rookie
31st December, 2019
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With the year drawing to a close, it’s time to look back at how 2020 went for Virat Kohli’s men.

There were few incredible highs, a surprising series defeat and one sore thumb the Indian fans would not soon forget.

How did the year go?

After Jasprit Bumrah’s inspired spell helped India retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2018’s last Test at the MCG, the team was full of confidence heading into the Sydney Test, which began on 3 January.

Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant led India to 600 before rain saved the Australian team’s blushes and ended the game in a draw. India created history by winning their first-ever Test series in Australia.

The team followed it up by winning a highly entertaining ODI series 2-1, riding on Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s brilliance.

Virat Kohli

(Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

The team then travelled to New Zealand and registered a comprehensive 4-1 ODI series win. Virat Kohli was rested for the series and his deputy, Rohit Sharma, handled the reigns. The team lost following T20 series against the Kiwis 2-1 and returned home following a highly successful tour Down Under. They had won three series, drawn one and lost one.

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The Indian cricket team’s next assignment was a tour by the Australians to play two T20s and five ODIs. The Australians rode on Glenn Maxwell’s masterclasses and surprised India to win the T20 series 2-0.

Heading into the ODI series, the hosts were the odds-on favourite. India began the series strong and took a 2-0 lead. However, to the shock of many, Usman Khawaja and Ashton Turner hit India hard and the Australians staged an incredible comeback to win the series 3-2.

Indian fans chose to take it as an aberration and held high hopes for the 50-over World Cup in England. The team was in high spirits heading into the tournament. They were joint favourites to win the trophy, and there was a good reason why: for the first time India was boasting the world’s best ODI batsman and the best ODI bowler at the same time, and the team was one of the best fielding sides.

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The tournament began well as the team dominated South Africa and mastered the Australians. The match against New Zealand got washed out and the team destroyed Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the West Indies. India also defeated Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Their sole defeat in the group stage was inflicted by eventual champions England, but the team topped the group and landed a tie against New Zealand in the semi-finals. That’s when calamity stuck for Virat Kohli’s men.

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In a tale of what-ifs and a top-class run-out by Martin Guptill, the Indian cricket team’s challenge was perished by the Kiwis.

After many discussions and debates, batting coach Sanjay Bangar was let go to “revamp” the team management, and India geared up to participate in ICC’s next premier event, the World Test Championship.

Ruthless performances in the West Indies and against South Africa and Bangladesh at home in Tests cemented India’s case at the top of the WTC group table.

The team also won a T20 and an ODI series in the West Indies, drew a T20 series at home against South Africa, won a T20 series against Bangladesh and West Indies at home and outclassed the West Indies in a highly competitive and entertaining ODI series to end the year on a high.

Virat Kohli

(Browne/Getty Images)

Analysis

Overall the year should be described as very successful for the Indian national cricket team across the formats. With the T20 World Cup coming up next year, the team spent this year playing a number of different players to expand their talent pool. Overall they played 16 T20s this year, winning nine and losing seven.

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But, more importantly, players like Vijay Shankar, Khaleel Ahmed, Krunal Pandya, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar, Deepak Chahar, Rahul Chahar, Dinesh Karthik, Manish Pandey and Shivam Dube got an extended run. The year saw Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant cementing their spots in the national team as well.

In ODIs the team won 20 and lost nine games out of 29 completed matches. This included their first ODI bilateral series win in Australia, the capitulation of New Zealand on its home turf, a surprising series defeat by Australia at home and a dominant World Cup campaign that was suddenly halted by a Kane Williamson-led New Zealand.

Rohit Sharma finished the highest scorer of the year in ODIs with 1490 runs in 27 innings at 57.30, which included 648 runs in nine innings at 81.00 in the World Cup, with five 100s and one 50. Virat Kohli finished in the second spot with 1377 runs in 25 innings at 59.86.

With the ball Mohammad Shami was the highest wicket-taker in the world in ODIs, with 42 wickets in 21 matches at 22.64. It included a hat-trick against Afghanistan in which Shami became the second Indian since Chetan Sharma to take a World Cup hat-trick.

Jasprit Bumrah celebrates a wicket

(Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Virat Kohli’s men really shone in the longest format of the game. The Indian cricket team have held Test cricket’s world No. 1 ranking since October 2016 and have been the most consistent team of the decade.

The year began with the team making history at Sydney and winning their first-ever Test series in Australia. They were rightly considered the favourites to win the inaugural Test championship and they have performed to that billing.

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Since 22 August the team has played seven Test matches and won all of them.

They defeated West Indies in the Caribbean by 318 runs in the first Test and 257 runs in the second. The rampant Indians then bulldozed through South Africa and Bangladesh and won four of the five Test matches by an innings.

In the year Mayank Agarwal was the highest run-scorer for India, with 754 runs in 11 innings at an average of 68.54. His average was only bettered by Rohit Sharma’s 92.66 and Steven Smith’s 86.66 among the batsmen who scored more than 500 runs in 2019.

Mohammad Shami was again India’s most successful bowler, with 33 wickets in eight Tests.

The pick of Indian bowlers was Umesh Yadav, who took 23 wickets in mere four matches at an average of 13.65. Jasprit Bumrah took the only hat-trick of the year in Tests when he ran through West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica. An untimely injury meant he played only three Tests this year, taking 14 wickets in three Tests at 13.14.

Currently India sits comfortably at the top of the World Test Championship table with 360 points from seven matches. Australia are in the second place with 256 points in nine matches. The two have been early pace-setters of the tournament.

Such has been the Indian team’s domination in Tests that in this decade India lost just one series at home, to England. The team hasn’t lost a home Test since February 2017 when Stephen O’Keefe’s 12 wickets surprised India in Pune.

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India's captain Virat Kohli

(AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

A big story to come out of 2019 was MS Dhoni and his cricketing future.

Dhoni started the year well with a man-of-the-series performance against Australia. His 193 runs in the series included two unbeaten 50s and a man-of-the-match performance at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He batted well in New Zealand to score 49 in two innings at a strike rate of over 100. He scored 85 runs in three innings against Australia at home and looked promising for the World Cup.

While he kept the Indian challenge alive in that fateful match against New Zealand with a gritty 50, his overall performance was underwhelming. He scored 273 runs in nine matches at an average of around 45, but the team kept waiting for a masterful knock that never came.

In the T20 format Dhoni scored 130 runs in five innings at an average of 43.33 and strike rate of just over 116. More importantly, he seemed to have lost his touch as a finisher, which made him an asset for whichever team he played for.

His experience could have come handy at No. 4, but the team decided to go against that and Dhoni is yet to play a match for India since the World Cup. A section of Indian fans want him back, while others feel his international career may be done for good.

Currently 38 and with a talented pool of wicketkeepers – Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan and Srikar Bharat – coming up, this might have been the last year MS Dhoni played for India in a main capacity.

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India's MS Dhoni bats.

(AP Photo/David Rowland)

Commitments in 2020

Until 18 March the Indian team will host Sri Lanka for three T20s followed by a three-ODI series at home against Australia. Immediately after the Australia assignment India will leave for New Zealand to play five T20s, three ODIs and two Tests.

After returning from New Zealand India will host South Africa at home for three ODIs before the IPL.

Tentative assignments after the IPL will feature India’s tour of Sri Lanka to play three ODIs and three T20s, the T20 Asia Cup as a practice for the T20 World Cup, England’s tour of India for three ODIs and three T20s, World T20 in Australia and India’s tour of Australia for four Tests and three ODIs.

With a busy year of international cricket coming up, Virat Kohli and his men would hope to replicate their 2019 form and win their second World T20 and reach the finals of the WTC.

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Players of the year

Rohit Sharma
He scored 2442 runs across all formats, breaking Sanath Jayasuriya’s 22-year old record for most runs in international cricket by an opener across formats. He was also the highest run-getter of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, scored the highest Test average in the world among batsmen who scored more than 500 runs in the year and score the highest run total in ODI cricket this year.

Virat Kohli
He scored 2455 runs across all formats, making himself the highest run-scorer of the year across all formats for the fourth consecutive year. He was also the second-highest ODI run-scorer of the year.

Mohammad Shami
He took 77 wickets across all formats, making himself the second-highest wicket-taker in the world behind Pat Cummins.

Overall grade

A+

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