Year in Review: The year of the world cup

The year has come to an and it's time to look back at a great year for the Indian cricket fans around the world. This has been the year of the world cup. Let's look back at the year, the ups the downs and obviously the world cup.

The World cup

The World Cup returned to the subcontinent after 15 years and every Indian fan was hoping to see MS Dhoni lifting the coveted trophy. India did have a tough group and did come through reasonably well with just one loss. The quarter-final game against Australia was fantastic and Yuvraj Singh (Man of the tournament) played a blinder along with Suresh Raina to get India home. The semi-finals against arch rivals Pakistan was an emotionally charged one but a great knock by Sachin and some disciplined bowling effort got India through that. 

The final at Wankhede against Sri Lanka again was a great contest. Gambhir and Dhoni played brilliantly to get India home in a tense chase. When Dhoni hit that six, a nation rejoiced and India was once again world champions. A great day for Indian cricket and the fans and it was definitely the highlight of the year. 

Best Players:

Batsman: Sachin Tendulkar was again one of the best players of the tournament with 2 hundreds and couple of important fifties he was the best batsman for Indian in the tournament.

Bowler: Zaheer Khan was once again India’s best bowler and this time he rectified the mistakes of 2003 World Cup Finals. With 21 wickets at an impressive average and strike rate, he was not only the best Indian bowler but was the best in the World Cup overall.

All-rounder: When the World Cup started there were questions regarding Yuvraj Singh’s place in the squad. As a true champion though Yuvraj turned it around when it mattered. He was one of the top scorers for India throughout the tournament and with 15 wickets with the ball too, he was India’s top player overall. Batted brilliantly and bowled with tremendous control to claim important wickets in the middle overs to receive the man of the tournament at the end of it all. Brilliant performance from an great player.

Tests:

India began this year as the best team in the world in the longer format. They further emphasized the claim with a good fighting 1-1 draw against the South Africans but since then it has been downhill for Dhoni’s team. After the world cup a young Indian team scraped a win against a struggling West Indies. The English tour which followed was an absolute disaster where India failed to register a single win. A 4-0 loss was something unexpected as India reached the British shores as the favorites. India’s overseas record has been poor this year as they have lost 5 successive games since the English tour and won none. Their solitary win overseas came against West Indies earlier this year. Dhoni will hope that 2012 will be better for his team, starting with the Sydney test.

ODI:

The ODI team had a great year compared to the test team. ODI world cup was obviously the highlight of the year but the team also was amazingly dominant at home. A 5-0 win against England and 4-1 win against West Indies to end the 2011 home season was good year. The overseas record again was again a lot to be desired. A 3-2 loss in South Africa and a 3-0 loss in England was definitely a dampener in otherwise a great year.

New talent:

Even though this was a mixed year for the Indian cricket team, this was a great year as far a new talent goes. India always wanted a “Quick” bowler and this year Indian found not one but two of them. Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron showed lots of promise and bowled with sustained pace in the chance they got. Umesh has been extremely impressive as a test bowler and seems to be a great prospect for India in test cricket. Ravichandran Ashwin was another bowling find for India as his great performance in the home series against West Indies got him on the flight to Australia. Praveen Kumar was another bowling find for India. Even though he has played lots of ODI cricket, his performance in West Indies and England showed that he will be a great addition to the Indian test team.

Batting wise India had lots of debutants this year and few of them impressed. Ajinkya Rahane was one of them. Brilliant talent, who can play short ball well, had a brilliant ODI series in England and seems a great prospect. Manoj Tiwary was another player who made an impact after he finally realized his potential with a brilliant hundred against the West Indies. Abhinav Mukund was another player who did a good job as an opener against West Indies and seems to have a good technique and temperament. He needs to be persisted with.

Overall this year could have been much better for the team after the brilliant world cup triumph. The test performances was surely a dampener on otherwise a decent year. For the Indian fans though year 2011 will forever be etched in their minds as the Indian team finally brought the cup home. This was something every fan dreamt about over the last 25 years and the dream was finally realized. Here is hoping for a better 2012 for the Indian team, starting with a win in Sydney,

Article by: Giridharan Subramanian