World cricket in 2019: England lift maiden WC trophy, Kohli’s Indian Test side embrace another indomitable run

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Another impressive year in world cricket ended on Sunday with South Africa pulling off a sensational win at home against England. The year kicked off with the ODI format getting importance owing to the impending World Cup in England starting May 30, 2019. And despite Virat Kohli’s Men in Blue standing as the strongest contender for the elusive title, the hosts lifted the trophy via a bizarre rule after the Super Over ended in a draw against New Zealand in the final.

Following World Cup, world cricket saw the inception of World Test Championship, a step to increase supporters for Test cricket. And Kohli’s India once again ruled the format, with wins in over overseas and home games. The fag-end of the year saw the teams giving more importance to the shortest format of the game owing to the impending World T20 year.

Overall, it was world champion England who finished atop in ODIs, while India ruled the roster in Tests.

Test cricket in 2019:

Team India finishes atop at the end of 2019 following an unbeaten streak throughout the year. They played eight matches - three overseas and five at home - and won seven matches with the remaining one ending in a draw. Virat Kohli's team started the year by becoming the first Indian and Asian team to win a Test series in Australia, following the draw in Sydney (4th Test). India's next Test campaign was in August, after World Cup 2019, where India had clean-swept West Indies. Following the 2-0 win in the Caribbean nation, Kohli had become India's most successful Test captain, surpassing MS Dhoni's overall Test win tally. Indian then played five Tests at home including their maiden pink-ball Test and the hosts continued with their indomitable run on home turf. Their impressive run even leaves them with 360 points - seven wins from seven games - in the inaugural World Test Championship that began post World Cup 2019.

Australia stands second on the list with as many wins as India, but in 11 games. They started the year with a maiden series defeat to India at home, before Sri Lanka pulled off a 1-1 draw with an innings victory in Brisbane. But the Aussies bounced back in July with the return of Steve Smith and David Warner. While Smith's redemption series in England helped Australia retain the Ashes, Warner's destructive home return saw Australia whitewash Pakistan. But their find for the year has been Marnus Labuschange. The 25-year-old earned a surprise spot in the playing XI as Test history's first-ever concussion substitute after Smith was struck down by Jofra Archer during Ashes. And from there on, he piled on five half-centuries and three 150-plus score to emerge as the highest run-getter in 2019.

In terms of run-scoring, Labuschange finished atop with 1104 runs at 64.94 with three centuries and seven fifties and is the only batsman in 2019 to breach the 1000-run mark. Smith stands second with 965 runs in eight matches, Mayank Agarwal is the only Indian in the top-five list with 754 runs in eight matches at 59.04.

Meanwhile, Australia's Pat Cummins finished with most wickets in 2019 - 59 from 12 matches at 20.13 an average. He is followed by Nathan Lyon (45 wickets) and Stuart Broad (43 wickets). Mohammed Shami is the only Indian in the top-three list with 33 wickets from eight games.

ODI cricket in 2019:

It was the year where ODI cricket was more in focus for all teams, at least for the first half, owing to the scheduled World Cup 2019 in England. India, Australia and England were considered the hot favourites, and it was Eoin Morgan's side who lifted the maiden World Cup trophy for their nation and finished the year as the best ODI team.

England finished 2019 with the best win-loss ratio after managing 14 wins from 22 matches (and five defeats) – off which seven wins came in the World Cup. The team had eventually lifted the trophy based on boundary-count rule after the Super Over against New Zealand had ended in a tie.

Australia stand second on the overall list with 16 wins and seven losses from 23 games. Australia were defeated in the semifinals by England in World Cup 2019. Their best performance came in March when the Aaron Finch-led visiting team came back from a 0-2 down to beat India 3-2 in their own backyard. However, they had lost to India at their home earlier in January.

Kohli's Men in Blue stand third with 18 wins and eight defeats in 27 matches in 2019. India, who were the hot favourite to lift the World Cup trophy, were eliminated by New Zealand in the semis.

Rohit Sharma finished 2019 as the leading run-getter in the 50-over format with 1427 runs in 27 matches comprising seven centuries (most). 648 off his total runs came in World Cup 2019 which included a record-breaking five consecutive centuries. However, he had fallen 25 runs short of Sachin Tendulkar's record of most-ever runs in a single World Cup edition. Windies' Shai Hope finished second while Kohli settled for the third spot.

Mohammed Shami became the highest wicket-taker in ODIs in 2019 with his tally of 41 scalps in 20 games at 21.58 an average. The New Zealand duo of Trent Boult (38 wickets) and Lockie Ferguson (35 wickets) finished second and third respectively.

T20I cricket in 2019

Among the top-10 ranked nations, Australia have performed the best in T20Is in 2019 having maintained an unbeaten record throughout the year. They played eight matches this year winning seven games while one ended in no result. Team India, however, finished with most wins in 2019 - 9 out of 16. Among top-10 ranked nations, Kohli finished with most runs - 466 from 10 games, while Afghanistan's Rashid Khan finished as leading wicket-taker with 20 wickets in as many games.