NEW DELHI : Indian cricket in 2014 could well be compared to a three-hour Bollywood masala flick – full of drama both on and off the field. It was truly an action-packed year for the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side, with Rohit Sharma’s record breaking double ton in ODIs, the team’s never-ending overseas woes and the controversy surrounding BCCI president-in-exile N Srinivasan over IPL 6 spot-fixing scandal, summing up the year. The year also marked the the beginning of an era for the men-in-blue, which for the first time saw a team sans the services of legendary batsman Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, who decided to hang up his boots in 2013. Life without Tendulkar has been more lows than highs, if the parameter is performance in the Test matches played on foreign soil.
However, the eleventh month of the year- November- once again turned lucky for Rohit Sharma as he blasted a mammoth 264 off 173 balls against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Making a return to the national side after a long injury layoff, Rohit eclipsed his own record of 209 which he smashed against Australia at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on November 2 last year.
It took nearly four decades for a batsman to score the first double-century in one-day international cricket but less than five years for the second, third and then the fourth.
Tendulkar was the first cricketer to get a double hundred in ODIs when he blasted 25 fours to reach the landmark in February 2010.
Virender Sehwag, then blasted another double hundred in December 2011 to become only the second batsman after Tendulkar to reach the landmark.
The year also probably marked the of another glorious bunch of Indian cricketers, who had played with distinction over the last decade.
Sehwag, arguably the biggest impact player after Tendulkar, probably might not play for India again after being overlooked from the 30-men probables for the 2015 ICC World Cup.
Apart from the Nawab of Najafgarh, the five wise men in the selection committee have also put the axe on the other members of the 2011 World Cup-winning members – Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Gautam Gambhir. Despite the selectors showing faith on youngsters, the team failed to live up to the expectation in overseas conditions.
The year started with India touring New Zealand with the result on expected lines as the visitors lost the one-dayers 4-0 with a match ending in a tie.
The Test matches were no different as India lost the first Test by 40 runs and although the visitors put up quite a show in the second Test, it was not quite enough to level the series as the old malaise of Indian cricket gripped the visitors who had the hosts in the mat but failed to capitalise on it as the match ended in a draw. India then travelled all the way back to Bangladesh to take part in the Asia Cup which consisted of four other teams namely Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan in the month of February.
India did not do justice to their one-day capabilities and failed to even make it to the finals which eventually ended with Sri Lanka being the victorious side. The T20 World Cup was slotted to happen in March and India after playing like champions lost out to Sri Lanka in the final in Bangladesh, giving the island nation their first triumph after their World Cup win in 1996. Already in the T20 mode, the team then returned to take part in the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL), which is more like a summer carnival in this part of the world. In the wake of the IPL scandal, the Supreme Court had suspended Narayanswami Srinivasan from working as BCCI head and appointed Sunil Gavaskar as interim president who also looked after the affairs in this edition of the cash-rich tournament. The Kolkata Knight Riders emerged victorious for the second time in the 2014 edition of the league.
Soon after the IPL, India toured Bangladesh and Suresh Raina after his poor run of form came back to the Indian fold and was made the captain as the likes of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli and rest of the senior players decided to take a break.
India managed to topple the minnows without much discomfort with a more or less second grade side. Come the middle of the year and India were facing the same England side who gave them a 4-0 drubbing last time they were in England in 2011.
The tour which promised to reveal a new Indian side with a bunch of young players ended up in a disaster as the visitors failed to put any kind of resistance after their brilliant victory at Lord’s that came after 28 years. A series which the visitors were leading 1-0 soon changed directions as India surrendered meekly in the rest of the series.
The one-dayers saw a different Indian side all-together as they went past the hosts at a canter, winning the series 4-1 in alien conditions. But that took away little pain of the humiliating defeat in the Test series. Back home, the Indians were ready for full series against the West Indies, which however, ended on a sour note as the Caribbean side refused to take the field due to their on-going payment dispute with their board which resulted in the Board of Control for Cricket in India sending a legal notice to the West Indian Cricket Board. After the Windies left the tour mid-way, the BCCI invited the Sri Lankans for a hurriedly-organised ODI series, which India won 5-0.
A confident India then took the flight Down Under for one of the much-awaited series of the year, where they are scheduled to play four Test matches followed by the ODI tri-series.
India lost the Border-Gavaskar trophy in rather unusual fashion at the MCG, with captain Steve Smith coming to an agreement with India skipper MS Dhoni to call play off with 15 minutes and four overs still remaining in the day of the third Test.
The visitors, having showed a lot of promise in the first Test match, succumbed under pressure in the second one and are now trailing by 0-2 in the four-Test series with the Boxing Day Test match drawn.
Off the field, it was a series of court cases that saw Srinivasan remaining in exile on directives of the Supreme Court.
Yet he managed to wield enough powers to become the first Chairman of the International Cricket Council and India will now enjoy bigger pie of the ICC revenue. The Tamil Nadu strongman is embroiled in a legal tussle with unsanctioned Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) secretary Aditya Verma, who is believed to be funded by Srinivasan’s bête noire Lalit Modi.
As the New Year dawns, it would be interesting to see who gets to control Indian cricket with the annual elections being postponed to a date not later than January 31, 2015 following a directive from the apex court. Outside India, it was the tragic death of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes, which brought the cricket community together. From Karachi to Christchurch, Kolkata to Melbourne, London to Cape Town, everyone came together in the hour of grief.
The 25-year-old batsman succumbed to the injuries, after being hit on the neck by a bouncer from Sean Abbot in a domestic match between New South Wales and South Australia. While Rohit’s innings will always be remembered, the tragedy that snatched away Hughes, who died just three days ahead of what would have been his 26th birthday will never be forgotten.
Hughes was unbeaten on 63, at the time of the tragedy and was gearing up to wear his favourite ‘Baggy Green’ for the 27th time in a Test match.
The number ’63’ became immortal and Hughes became ’63 not-out Forever’.
An emotional Australian captain Michael Clarke broke down on a number of occasions while fondly remembering his ‘Little Brother’, while an otherwise bullish David Warner also wiped a tear as he completed his century against India in the first Test at the Adelaide Oval. Apart from the tragedy in Australia, the year also witnessed the infamous England and Wales Cricket Board’s feud with star batsman Kevin Pietersen, after the Ashes debacle. Pietersen was sacked from the national side and his international career still hangs in a balance. The year 2014 also witnessed the end of various international careers which included former Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene announcing his retirement from Tests, veteran South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis bowing out after a long international career. Former Proteas skipper Graeme Smith also quit the game in March while Pakistan T20 skipper Shahid Afridi announcing his decision to quit the game after the ICC 2015 World Cup. (AGENCIES)
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