2022 Rewind: Reviewing Team India’s performance across the year

Another year has flown by in the blink of an eye, with 2022 set to reach its conclusion in a little over a week’s time. It still feels like yesterday that Indian cricket fans had witnessed the Virat Kohli-led team defeat South Africa at Centurion, eagerly waiting for the arrival of the new year with the anticipation of the team’s first-ever Test series win on South African soil.

Fast-forward to December 2022, and things haven’t exactly gone as per plan in what has been a bittersweet year for Indian cricket, with an emphasis on the bitter. The Indian cricket fan that had ushered in the new year on a hopeful note last year might have embraced cynicism after witnessing the senior men’s team’s performances across 2022, and will perhaps have to manage their expectations a little more cautiously going forward in another World Cup year.

So where did the Indian men’s cricket team go wrong this year? And what are the areas where they ended up exceeding expectations? In our latest piece looking back at the events of 2022, we take a deep dive into the highs and lows of Team India this year:

Musical chairs over captaincy

Few would have expected the Virat Kohli era to abruptly come to an end in January earlier this year. Yet, a tour of South Africa that got off to a dream start with a victory at Centurion would soon become a nightmare with consecutive defeats in Johannesburg and Cape Town, the series ending with Kohli resigning as the Test captain, clearing the path for Rohit Sharma to finally become the skipper across formats.

While Kohli’s run as the white-ball captain had come to an end after a disappointing T20 World Cup campaign in the UAE, many had widely expected him to continue as the Test leader. The manner in which his time as captain in the red-ball format had come to a halt, however, left a bitter taste with many wondering if the saga could have been better handled by the BCCI.

Kohli’s resignation, though, isn’t the only bit of drama as far as captaincy in the Indian team in 2022 goes with six individuals leading the team across formats this year. KL Rahul took over the role in the one-day series against South Africa, and was supposed to do the same in the T20Is against the Proteas at home, only for him to get injured and allow Rishabh Pant to assume charge. Shikhar Dhawan has become something of a designated captain of India’s second string teams and was in charge during India’s tour of Zimbabwe as well as in the ODIs in New Zealand. And last, but not the least, Hardik Pandya led the team in the T20Is in Ireland and New Zealand.

The fact that Rohit hasn’t quite had a settled run as captain of the Indian team across formats doesn’t make for a very ideal reading.

Misfiring at the big events

One of the reasons why the BCCI went for a change in leadership in the white-ball formats was to end India’s long wait for another ICC title. India had won the T20 World Cup (2007), the ODI World Cup (2011) as well as the Champions Trophy (2013) under MS Dhoni’s reign in a space of six years, but hadn’t won a major global event in the sport for nine years since then.

And it wasn’t just the T20 World Cup this year where the team had to endure disappointment in the end after getting off to a positive start. The Asia Cup trophy would also slip out of the Men in Blue’s grasp this year following back-to-back defeats against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Super Fours, with two horror 19th overs bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar taking centre-stage in those two defeats.

A month-and-a-half after failing to reach the final in the Asia Cup, India would begin their quest for a second T20 world title on a promising note, avenging their defeat at the hands of Pakistan in last year’s T20 World Cup with a thrilling win and finishing on top of the group despite a loss against South Africa.

If the spotlight fell on Bhuvi in the Asia Cup losses, it would be the entire team that would have to be questioned in the humiliating 10-wicket loss against England in the T20 World Cup semi-final, which went on to show that few lessons had ultimately been implemented from last year’s World Cup campaign even if they had been learned.

Workload management and injuries

And one of the biggest headaches for the Indian team in 2022 has been the unavailability of several of their key performers for a majority of the year. And the one absence that has hurt the team’s chances more than any other has to be pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who hasn’t had an extended run with the team since the tour of South Africa in January, appearing for the team sporadically and dealing with a host of physical issues for a majority of the year.

Bumrah had looked promising during the white-ball tour of England, where he registered a devastating 6/19. His dodgy back, however, starting causing problems for him later in the tour, and forced him to miss the Asia Cup, where Bhuvneshwar had to lead the Indian attack in his absence. Bumrah returned briefly during the T20Is at home preceding the T20 World Cup, but the back problems returned to haunt him shortly before the flight to Australia, resulting in him having to sit out of India’s campaign.

Ravindra Jadeja has been another high-profile injury that has affected the team’s morale and its performances. ‘Jaddu’, after all, is a gun fielder and a handy batter in the middle order besides being an asset with the ball, and is considered among the genuine matchwinners in the Indian side. A knee injury picked up during the Asia Cup however, would ensure Jadeja would be confined to having to watch his teammates perform on a television instead of the dressing room balcony or at the centre.

The resurgence of Kohli, emergence of SKY

Not everything has been doom and gloom in Indian cricket this year though. Kohli had been going through the worst patch of his life following his removal as captain from all three formats, with his form dipping continuously and reaching an all-time low in IPL 2022.

It all changed with a break taken after the tour of England, with Virat coming out all the fresher and bringing up his first century in nearly three years, the elusive 71st, during the Asia Cup, and follow it up with an ODI hundred during the tour of Bangladesh three months later.

Even more inspiring this year has been the rise of Suryakumar Yadav as India’s answer to ‘Mr 360’ AB de Villiers, an individual with the widest array of shots to make even the most accomplished of bowlers with the most defensive of fields lose hope.

With over a 1,000 runs in the shortest format this year at an average of 47 and a strike rate of 187.43, as well as displacing the likes of Mohammed Rizwan and Babar Azam to the top spot on the ICC rankings, SKY sure has been the standout Indian cricketer this year, one who will hope to make 2023 his own.

The road ahead

The string of recent failures, including a 2-1 ODI series loss in Bangladesh, has forced the BCCI to convene an ‘emergency meeting’ and take stock of the situation with an eye on the road ahead.

And though the focus firmly remains on the ODI World Cup that India hosts later in the year, captain Rohit and coach Rahul Dravid will have to set their eyes on qualification for the World Test Championship final as well. Team India currently sit at the second spot on the table and can seal their berth if they don’t lose more than one of their remaining five games in the cycle.

The 2011 World Cup triumph at home that helped the Men in Blue bury the pain of the first-round exit in 2007 in the Caribbean besides helping Sachin Tendulkar win the one trophy that had eluded him for so long. A similar result in next year’s triumph could have a similar effect on a nation starved of ICC success for a decade, and would very well serve as one last hurrah for the Rohit-Kohli generation before they make way for their juniors to take over.