When India won a closely fought ODI series vs west indies, last of the assignments of 2019, Virat Kohli said in the post-match presentation that India dominated all the year except those fateful 30 minutes on 9th July. In those 30 mins, India lost the top four batsmen and India's weak underbelly which was not tested till that date thanks to dominant performances of the top order and wrong selection/management issues were exposed. And thus went down the dreams of million Indian fans who wanted to win ICC trophy which they sought after for eight years after that memorable Mumbai night.
The decade of 2010 also comes to an end with team India dominating all three formats. In Tests, India is a settled unit. In Limited overs still, we struggle to find the perfect combination which we tried to find after WC2011.
To summarize 2019, the most important highlight is the emergence of the all-conquering bowling unit across all three formats.
The year started with the Sydney test which we just had to draw to secure the first-ever series win in Australia. We dominated the test scoring 600 and making Australia follow on. Australia was saved thanks to rains. Test series win in Australia was dream come true for fans who observed teams from Gavaskar 81, Kapil 85, Azhar 91, Sachin 99, Saurav 2003, Kumble 2007, Dhoni 2012, Kohli 2015 either struggle disastrously as in 91 and 99, register one-off a win as in 81 and in the series remembered for other reasons in 07, miss narrowly as in 85, 03 and 15 (despite what scoreline suggests). The series was won at Adelaide and Melbourne thanks to the epic performances by bowling and Pujara. Sydney ensured scoreline of 2-1 after the blip at Perth.
After this series, the focus was on white-ball cricket. India won the ODI series with Australia thanks to solid performances by MSD. MSD conundrum remained throughout the year creating an intense debate between fans and skeptics. At the end of the year, it still remains as we look forward to another t20 world cup which MSD won for us in 07. Those were the days. Dhoni's batting maybe has lost that killing punch but still his wicketkeeping is top class. The ODI series in NZ and home series vs Australia were kinds of the last preparation for the WC 2019. The top order of Rohit, Dhawan, and Virat was solid but issue was no4 and lower-middle order. The team experimented with Raydu, Rahul, Pandey, Kedar, and Vijay. Out of that Kedar, Vijay Shankar, Rahul made the cut. Vijay's bowling was something the team opted for. Rahul was designated no 4 as we saw in WC before injury to Dhawan. For me, the team missed a trick by dropping Rahane from the scheme of the things in WC. WC was in early summer in England. His technique would have helped on that fateful morning. Jadeja was a better option ahead of Kedar as we found in Semis. Domination of top order and bowling excellence of Bumrah, Shami, and Bhuvi actually had hidden this weak link throughout the WC as we topped the league table. Rohit was sublime, Virat went century less but was consistent. Dhavan's exit was a big blow covered partially by Rahul. Under par Dhoni, raw talent of Pant, and some loose bowling at the end of NZ innings cost us the Worldcup equally as poor batting by top order when it mattered most. Performances in Knockout matches will now be an immediate priority for Virat. Let's hope he does that in 2020.
We won series in NZ comfortable while we lost both t20 and ODI home series in Australia. Verses Australia in India we lost 2-3 after winning the first two ODIs. The alarm bells were ringing for WC. But then Indian bowling and Top-order blew all teams except Eng during league stage and NZ when it mattered most thanks to those 30 minutes of bad batting. A billion dreams were broken as most expected strong Indian teams to sail through but it was not destined to be.
After the World Cup, we entered the world test championship with clean sweep vs west indies, Southafrica and Bangladesh. These wins were mainly due to relentless fast bowling by Indian pacers Ishant, Bumrah, Shami, and Umesh. This quartet along with Bhuvi makes Indian attack best in the world. Then you add wily Ashwin and smart Jadeja spin.
In the decades gone by we only had one Kapil that too a medium pace swing bowler, whereas we saw Australians: Lille, Thomson, Mcgrath, Lee, Mcdermott, Johnson, Starc, WI pacers like Marshall, Garner, Holding, Roberts, Pakistani bowlers like Imran, Wasim Waqar, South Africans like Donald, Steyn, Pollock. The music faced by our batsmen is now faced by opponent batsmen. Though these teams constitute the lower half of test rankings, the domination was something that makes this test championship points very remarkable. We used to envy Aus, WI, Pak, Saf for their bowling riches but now tables have turned. We are going to rules at least the first half of the next decade due to this bowling and of course of our batting which has riches as always in the team as well as benches. There are players like Shaw, Iyer, Gill, Pant, Kishen, Saini, and much more worth mentions to look forward to. Rohit, Pujara, Virat, and Bumrah have new peaks to conquer. I don't see MSD looking career beyond IPL in the new decade. End of an era for sure for this remarkable cricketer who helped India win ICC trophies in the late 2000s to early 2010s. We wish Rohit, Virat to add those. I also look forward to seeing Rohit as a leader in the shorter formats. Selectors should definitely explore that.
I also wish selection and team management should be revamped. Now that we have Dada as BCCI chief we need strong selectors and effective team coach. These people were the real culprits of WC debacle by wrong selections and tactics. The weakness still exist in limited-overs as we saw towards the end of years games with SA, Bangladesh, and WI. To end the year we won hard-fought series against WI on a high note.
When we review 2019 how can we forget a mention to the epic finale? Hats off to Williamson, Stokes, Archer, Neesham, and other Eng and NZ players to give us the best ODI played ever. ICC would have never dreamt of a tie of a super over. England won thanks to some vague rule that was framed for the T20s. NZ team remained dark horse throughout but everyone felt they deserved to be joint winners. We saw some great performances in the World cup by WI players, Starc, now disgraced Shakib al Hasan.
IPL also witnessed great final between Chennai and Mumbai the top two teams.
We saw great ashes matches with one wicket win by England in Ashes and epic performance by Stokes who arguably can be tied with Rohit Sharma as a cricketer of the year. There was epic SriLankan win SA. SA team has weakened further. WI is force only in limited-overs. Pak, SL, Bangladesh and Afghan team slid down. Top 4 teams ruled the roost.
India did all things well in 2019 except during those fatal 30 minutes but now they have a chance to redeem that in Australia in 2020.....
After this series, the focus was on white-ball cricket. India won the ODI series with Australia thanks to solid performances by MSD. MSD conundrum remained throughout the year creating an intense debate between fans and skeptics. At the end of the year, it still remains as we look forward to another t20 world cup which MSD won for us in 07. Those were the days. Dhoni's batting maybe has lost that killing punch but still his wicketkeeping is top class. The ODI series in NZ and home series vs Australia were kinds of the last preparation for the WC 2019. The top order of Rohit, Dhawan, and Virat was solid but issue was no4 and lower-middle order. The team experimented with Raydu, Rahul, Pandey, Kedar, and Vijay. Out of that Kedar, Vijay Shankar, Rahul made the cut. Vijay's bowling was something the team opted for. Rahul was designated no 4 as we saw in WC before injury to Dhawan. For me, the team missed a trick by dropping Rahane from the scheme of the things in WC. WC was in early summer in England. His technique would have helped on that fateful morning. Jadeja was a better option ahead of Kedar as we found in Semis. Domination of top order and bowling excellence of Bumrah, Shami, and Bhuvi actually had hidden this weak link throughout the WC as we topped the league table. Rohit was sublime, Virat went century less but was consistent. Dhavan's exit was a big blow covered partially by Rahul. Under par Dhoni, raw talent of Pant, and some loose bowling at the end of NZ innings cost us the Worldcup equally as poor batting by top order when it mattered most. Performances in Knockout matches will now be an immediate priority for Virat. Let's hope he does that in 2020.
We won series in NZ comfortable while we lost both t20 and ODI home series in Australia. Verses Australia in India we lost 2-3 after winning the first two ODIs. The alarm bells were ringing for WC. But then Indian bowling and Top-order blew all teams except Eng during league stage and NZ when it mattered most thanks to those 30 minutes of bad batting. A billion dreams were broken as most expected strong Indian teams to sail through but it was not destined to be.
After the World Cup, we entered the world test championship with clean sweep vs west indies, Southafrica and Bangladesh. These wins were mainly due to relentless fast bowling by Indian pacers Ishant, Bumrah, Shami, and Umesh. This quartet along with Bhuvi makes Indian attack best in the world. Then you add wily Ashwin and smart Jadeja spin.
In the decades gone by we only had one Kapil that too a medium pace swing bowler, whereas we saw Australians: Lille, Thomson, Mcgrath, Lee, Mcdermott, Johnson, Starc, WI pacers like Marshall, Garner, Holding, Roberts, Pakistani bowlers like Imran, Wasim Waqar, South Africans like Donald, Steyn, Pollock. The music faced by our batsmen is now faced by opponent batsmen. Though these teams constitute the lower half of test rankings, the domination was something that makes this test championship points very remarkable. We used to envy Aus, WI, Pak, Saf for their bowling riches but now tables have turned. We are going to rules at least the first half of the next decade due to this bowling and of course of our batting which has riches as always in the team as well as benches. There are players like Shaw, Iyer, Gill, Pant, Kishen, Saini, and much more worth mentions to look forward to. Rohit, Pujara, Virat, and Bumrah have new peaks to conquer. I don't see MSD looking career beyond IPL in the new decade. End of an era for sure for this remarkable cricketer who helped India win ICC trophies in the late 2000s to early 2010s. We wish Rohit, Virat to add those. I also look forward to seeing Rohit as a leader in the shorter formats. Selectors should definitely explore that.
I also wish selection and team management should be revamped. Now that we have Dada as BCCI chief we need strong selectors and effective team coach. These people were the real culprits of WC debacle by wrong selections and tactics. The weakness still exist in limited-overs as we saw towards the end of years games with SA, Bangladesh, and WI. To end the year we won hard-fought series against WI on a high note.
When we review 2019 how can we forget a mention to the epic finale? Hats off to Williamson, Stokes, Archer, Neesham, and other Eng and NZ players to give us the best ODI played ever. ICC would have never dreamt of a tie of a super over. England won thanks to some vague rule that was framed for the T20s. NZ team remained dark horse throughout but everyone felt they deserved to be joint winners. We saw some great performances in the World cup by WI players, Starc, now disgraced Shakib al Hasan.
IPL also witnessed great final between Chennai and Mumbai the top two teams.
We saw great ashes matches with one wicket win by England in Ashes and epic performance by Stokes who arguably can be tied with Rohit Sharma as a cricketer of the year. There was epic SriLankan win SA. SA team has weakened further. WI is force only in limited-overs. Pak, SL, Bangladesh and Afghan team slid down. Top 4 teams ruled the roost.
India did all things well in 2019 except during those fatal 30 minutes but now they have a chance to redeem that in Australia in 2020.....
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