Indian Cricket witnessed some sweet and sour moments in 2022. From Virat Kohli's magical knock against Pakistan to the Indian women's team's ODI whitewash in England, there were occasions when the Indian fans jumped in joy. However, the year also saw some moments, which broke the hearts of players and the fans.
The year started with a Test series defeat in South Africa which led to a dejected Virat Kohli stepping down from captaincy in the longest format. His relationship with the BCCI bigwigs was a fractured one after being sacked from ODI captaincy and he wanted to leave on his own terms. It happened in January and as the year comes to an end, Kohli's illustrious heir Rohit Sharma too finds himself shunted from the national T20 captaincy.
In an expected change of guard, Hardik Pandya emerged as a new leader of the national T20 team as Rohit paid the price for another semi-final exit in the T20 World Cup following the defeat against England. The Indian team looked good during bilaterals but came a cropper at the global events. No one knows when the trend will be bucked.
In women's cricket, Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami, who set a benchmark in the women's game and earned respect for the national team on the international stage ended their respective glorious journeys. While several batters could fill Mithali's void, finding Jhulan's replacement will be difficult if the performance of the team under Harmanpreet Kaur is an indication.
Save Renuka Singh Thakur, none of the other players has looked ready for international cricket and a testimony to that is Shikha Pandey's return to international cricket after 15 months. The women's team were brilliant in the Commonwealth Games as they bagged a Silver medal and also won the Asia Cup in the year.
Cut back to the Men's cricket, Some of the bilateral series lacked context and hence Virat Kohli's 71st and 72nd international hundreds in dead rubbers versus Afghanistan (T20) and Bangladesh (ODI) didn't have a lot of currency.
It also didn't go unnoticed that head coach Rahul Dravid's decision-making has left a lot to be desired. From rushing a half-fit Jasprit Bumrah for a T20 series against Australia that aggravated his lower-back stress fracture, to not thinking of using wrist spinner Yuzvendra Chahal at the global event and dropping a performer like left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav from a Test after a match-winning show, Dravid could never actually convince anyone that he is a shrewd tactician.
In the case of Rohit, his dip in batting form also became an issue although he was the only one among the top three who had tried changing his game as per the needs of modern-day white-ball cricket. KL Rahul was the most disappointing of the lot and by the end of the year, it became clear that the Chetan Sharma-led panel's wish of seeing a potential national leader in him had crash-landed as he lost his T20 vice-captaincy to Suryakumar Yadav and ODI deputy's role to Hardik Pandya. Rishabh Pant's run in limited overs was also hugely criticised.
Shreyas Iyer's consistent run in Tests and ODIs, Rishabh Pant's in Tests and Umran Malik's sheer pace are some positives. Shubman Gill realising his potential at the highest level and Ishan Kishan giving a glimpse of his phenomenal talent was also good sign, looking forward. Indian Cricket has witnessed some players showing glimpses of great talent. India would need a better 2023 as they would host the 50-over festival in their own country.
