Internet Desk: 2016 has been an explosive year for Indian cricket, both on and off the field. Virat Kohli’s Indian Test team beat multiple teams to reach the top of test rankings, while it hasn’t been a good year for the cricketing body of the country as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) remained involved in a cold war with the Lodha Commission.
Indian limited overs team started the year with a bang as they whitewashed Australia in the T-20’s down under. Virat Kohli and his men ended with more fireworks as they maintained their stronghold upon the test rankings by beating England 4-0 in the longest format of the game.
Although under the leadership of MS Dhoni, India lost the semi-finals bout against West Indies in the ICC world T20’s, the test side under Virat Kohli maintained their sublime touch by receiving an undefeated streak of 18 tests, thus improving their personal best.
With the focus on the ICC World T20, India suffered an embarrassing 1-4 ODI series defeat against Australia down under, but came back well to whitewash them 3-0 in the T20 series at the start of the year.
In February, India faced Sri Lanka in a 3 match T-20 series. Although India suffered an expected defeat by the Lankans in the first match, The blues fought back well to win the remaining two matches, thus winning the series.
India followed it up with a stellar performance in Asia Cup. In the rain interrupted final, India defeated hosts Bangladesh by 8 wickets to capture the Asia Cup trophy for the first time since 2010, and looked on course to do well in the World T20’s.
Ranked as favourites to reclaim the trophy for the first time since 2007, India suffered a shocking defeat against New Zealand at Nagpur in their first match. The hosts then convincingly returned to winning ways by notching up victories against arch rivals Pakistan and Bangladesh, and finally a heroic display by Virat Kohli took the team to semi-finals by eliminating the mighty Australians.
However, India failed to defend 192 runs against eventual champions West Indies, as they bowed out from the semis.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) which followed next saw Virat reaching new heights of fame in the shorter format as he scored 973 runs in just 16 games with four centuries. However under his captaincy, Royal Challengers Bangalore only managed to finish as runners up as the Indian Premier League was won by Sunrisers Hyderabad in a thrilling final.
A young Indian side led by MS Dhoni won both the ODI and T-20 series by a convincing 3-0 and 2-1 margin respectively in June.
The tour to the Caribbean followed next as India faced West Indies in a 4 match test series, which they won by 2-0 to capture the series.
Kohli led from the front both with his batting and captaincy. He displayed a scintillating batting performance throughout the series. The Induan captain scored a double century in the first test and a century in the third.
After returning home from the Caribbean series, India whitewashed New Zealand 3-0 in the test series and gained the no.1 Test ranking.
It was followed by a nail biting ODI series, with the hosts clinching the 5 match series in the decider, thanks to a brilliant spell of spin bowling from leg spinner Amit Mishra.
The hectic test schedule at home started once again as India faced England in a 5 match marathon series, Although India drew the first match at Rajkot, they followed up with a mammoth turnaround by pulling off a 4-0 series win over England and gaining 120 ranking points from ICC.
Indian cricket team ended up the year with no.1 rank in Tests, no.2 rank in T20’s and no.3 rank in ODI’s.
Off the field, Indian cricket was in controversies as the cold war between Lodha Committee and BCCI were in the headlines. Although Board President Anurag Thakur and Secretary Ajay Shirke repeatedly got warning from the Lodha panel to reform their working and financial ways, the BCCI refused to follow the recommendations. The apex court will announce its decision on January 3, 2017.
On the personal front, several Indian men and women cricketers performed exceptionally well throughout the calendar.
Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli became the Captain of ICC’s ODI team of the year. He was also named the skipper of Cricket Australia’s Test and ODI team of the year ahead of Steve Smith. Kohli has treated himself to 2,595 runs in international cricket this year and 973 runs in the Indian Premier League. On top of that, he lead the Indian Test team to series wins against West Indies, New Zealand and England. Kohli single-handedly powered Royal Challengers Bangalore to the final of the IPL this season.
Ravichandran Ashwin won both the ICC cricketer of the year and test cricketer of the year awards. He got 72 wickets in only 12 Test matches this year, earning 27 wickets against New Zealand and England in the test series. He also scored two centuries and three half-centuries to his, which firmly established him as an all- rounder. He was also a part of ICC’s Test team of the year 2016.
Indian women cricketer Jhulan Goswami became fastest bowler in the world in October as she guided India to register their first test series win over England in English soil.
Another woman cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur was in the limelight. She lead India to Women’s Asia Cup title by getting past arch rivals Pakistan in the final.
In June, Kaur became the first Indian cricketer to be signed by an overseas franchise Sydney Thunder for Woman’s Big Bash T-20 league.
India’s left handed bats woman Smriti Mandana became the only Indian cricketer to be named in the Women’s Team of the Year 2016. The 20-year- old turned heads during her Australian tour, where she scored 157 runs in the three ODI Internationals, including a maiden century.
Last but not the least, Gujarat batsman Samit Gohel broke a host of first-class records during the course of his big score(359*) in the Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Odisha in Jaipur. The previous highest score was held by Bobby Abel who scored 357 against Somerset. Gohel is also the first opener to remain unbeaten after crossing the 300-run- mark in 117 years in first class cricket.