A look at how Men in Blue fared in 2022

New Delhi [India], December 26 (ANI): In what could be best described as an up-and-down year for Indian cricket, the fans, who had built loads of expectations around Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid, who took over as the new captain and coach with the promise of scripting new success stories for the Men In Blue, would have mixed feelings as 2022 draws to a close.
The fans had hopes that Rohit 'Hitman' Sharma will replicate his Indian Premier League (IPL) exploits as skipper and 'The Wall' will guide the team to greater heights, using his over two-decade-long career as a player and help some of country's brightest stars make a smooth transition to the highest level of the sport.
But as is often the case with Indian cricket, the year turned out to be highly unpredictable.
Rohit's men started the year on a high, winning T20I and ODI series against West Indies at home in February. India continued to make merry in their future bilateral series, downing Sri Lanka at home in T20Is and Tests in February and March.
After a gap in international cricket due to the IPL, which saw all-rounder Hardik Pandya propelled into superstardom after leading Gujarat Titans to the title in their maiden season, much was expected from Men in Blue as a lot of Indian stars performed well in the cash-rich, domestic T20 league. Many domestic stars such as Rajat Patidar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Rahul Tripathi, Abhishek Sharma and Nitish Rana, among others, also performed well in the league and hoped they would be in the reckoning for the T20 World Cup in November.
After the IPL, South Africa toured India in June. With Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli battling inconsistent form, Indian fans were left worried. Both the stars skipped the series keeping in mind the bigger task in hand, the tour of England for the fifth and final Test from 2021 series, rescheduled after a Covid-19 outbreak in the Team India camp; three ODIs and as many T20Is.
India made history in England as they denied the hosts a series win across all formats, drawing the Test series 2-2 after losing the final Test and walking away with the ODI and T20I series win with a margin of 2-1, in June-July.
The young India brigade, featuring likes of Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Shubman Gill, Harshal Patel and Sanju Samson, among others drew the series against South Africa 2-2 and won the subsequent wave of limited overs series against Ireland, West Indies and Zimbabwe, in their own backyards, from June to August. These youngsters would often get the likes of Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan and Hardik Pandya as their captains, depending on the format. Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant got to captain India in T20Is and Dhawan mostly served as a leader in ODIs, making up for the absence of seniors like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who were rested. KL Rahul also missed a significant chunk of cricket after IPL, owing to fitness issues.
Seniors like KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja made a return to national side for the Asia Cup title defence from August-September. India failed to defend their title, bowing out in the Super Four stage after losses to Pakistan and Sri Lanka. However, the biggest positive from the event was star batter Virat Kohli return to form, as he scored a century and two fifties, ending as second highest run-scorer with 276 runs in five matches.
India was re-energised and more complete with Virat back in form. However, the inconsistency of KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma was baffling leading into the T20 World Cup.
India, meanwhile, won the white-ball series against Australia and South Africa from September-October.
In November, India started its T20 WC campaign with a memorable win over Pakistan, which saw Virat Kohli play an innings of his lifetime, scoring 82* to rescue his team from 31/4 just after powerplay in pursuit of 160 runs.
However, a 10-wicket loss to England in the semifinal exposed India's frail top order and the inexperienced bowling attack in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.
Following this, Hardik Pandya led India to a 1-0 win over New Zealand in their own backyard in November. The ODI series was hit by frequent weather-induced interventions, as was the 20-over series, with the Kiwis winning it 1-0.
India's final assignment of the year was a tour of Bangladesh in December. All-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz's brilliance denied India a series win in ODIs, with hosts taking the series 2-1.
However, India bounced back to down a spirited Bangladesh in the subsequent two-match Test series. The 2-0 series win saw India close the year on a winning note.
To sum up, India, under Rohit Sharma, looked invincible in bilateral series but struggled at multi-team/global events.
Leading performers of India across all formats
-TESTS
*Leading run-scorers
1).Rishabh Pant (680 runs in seven matches at an average of 61.81 with two tons and four fifties)
2). Shreyas Iyer (422 runs in five matches at an average of 60.28 with four fifties)
3).Cheteshwar Pujara (409 runs in five matches at an average of 45.44, with one century and three fifties)
*Leading wicket-takers
1).Jasprit Bumrah (22 wickets)
2).Ravichandran Ashwin (20 wickets)
3).Mohammed Shami (13 wickets)
-ODIs
*Leading run-scorers
1).Shreyas Iyer (724 runs in 15 innings at an average of 55.69, with one century and six fifties)
2).Shikhar Dhawan (688 runs in 22 innings at an average of 34.40, with six fifties)
3).Shubman Gill (638 runs in 12 innings at an average of 70.88, with one century and four fifties)
*Leading wicket-takers
1).Mohammed Siraj (24 wickets)
2).Shardul Thakur (22 wickets)
3).Yuzvendra Chahal (21 wickets)
-T20Is
*Leading run-scorers
1).Suryakumar Yadav (1,164 runs in 31 innings at an average of 46.56, with two centuries and nine fifties)
2).Virat Kohli (781 runs in 20 innings at an average of 55.78, with one century and eight fifties)
3).Rohit Sharma (656 runs at an average of 24.29, with three fifties)
*Leading wicket-takers
1).Bhuvneshwar Kumar (37 wickets)
2).Arshdeep Singh (33 wickets)
3).Yuzvendra Chahal (23 wickets). (ANI)