In the previous article we discussed about Indian Team's cricketing journey in 2021. In the following article we will discuss about the highs and lows of Indian Team in 2021.
The year 2021 was indeed a great year for Indian cricket but it had its own share of highs and lows. India played 14 Tests in 2021 and India won 8 out of those while tasting defeat and drew 3 apiece.
The Men in Blue played 16 T20s in 2021 winning 10 and losing 6 while in ODIs India played only 6 winning 4 and losing 2.
The Highs:
•Overeseas Test Victories:
India played 3 overseas test series in 2021 and didn't lose a single series. The Indian team even breached the fortresses of the Gabba, Lord's, Oval and Centurion in a single calendar year thus making it 4 overseas victories in SEA (South Africa, England, Australia) countries.
•The Top Order Flourish:
India's batting in tried and tested conditions have always been under the scanner. But the Indian team put the monkey of the back down by some memorable performances. Be it Shubman Gill's valiant 91 at the Gabba or Rohit Sharma's first overseas ton at the Oval or KL Rahul's dual tons in Lord's and Centurion or Mayank Agarwal's 150 at the spinning tracks in Wankhede, the Indian top order batsmen stepped up in numerous conditions when required.
•The Bowling Exploits and Siraj's resurgence:
The Indian bowling department played a pivotal role in the overseas victories in 2021. Ravichandran Ashwin ended 2021 as the highest wicket taker in Tests with 54 wickets. Bumrah and Shami were brilliant throughout in pace department but it was Mohammad Siraj who was the most impressive. Siraj stunned everyone with his pace and put up brilliant performances at the Gabba, Oval and even in Centurion with the ball in hand.
•The Long Tail:
Rishabh Pant was the chief architect in India's victories in Australia. But what was more impressive was the form of the batsmen who batted lower down the order. Sundar and Shardul Thakur shone with performances in Sydney, Ashwin's heroics with the bat in Australia followed by Shardul's dual assault in Oval. Even Shami and Bumrah shone with the bat in Lords. Thus we can conclude that the middle order owes were easily covered up by the batsmen down the order.
The Lows:
•Losing Important Matches: India may have an impressive win loss record in 2021 but the losses have costed them a lot. India's 2 years of dominance came down crashing when they lost to New Zealand in the Finals of World Test Championship. Even in the T20 World Cup, losing the opening matches to arch rivals Pakistan and New Zealand paved India's exit in group stages.
•Virat's slump in captaincy:
2021 has not been a great year for Virat Kohli either. He ended the year with another century drought and his love lost affair with the ICC trophies continued as India failed in two ICC events under his captaincy. To make things worse, he was even ousted from the captaincy of the Limited overs setup. Even his public fallout with the BCCI was a low point in his career.
•Performance in ICC Tournaments:
India's disastrous form in ICC tournaments continued in 2021. Firstly was the Final loss in the World Test Championship in the hands of New Zealand. But what followed next was even more dreadful as India was eliminated from the group stages of the T20 World Cup after losing to Arch rivals Pakistan and old nemesis New Zealand.
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