NEW DELHI, Dec 31: Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement from cricket grabbed the headlines in 2013 but Indian cricket’s image also took a beating in the aftermath of the IPL Spot-fixing scandal.
The Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led team had a roller-coaster 2013, winning six consecutive ODI series including the coveted ICC Champions Trophy. The year, though ended on a sour note after India lost both the ODI and the Tests series against World No 1 South Africa.
India-Pakistan ODI series
The year started with a 1-2 loss in a hurriedly-arranged ODI series against arch-rivals Pakistan when England went home for a Christmas break between the Tests and ODIs against India.
The two neighbours played a bilateral series after five years and one big positive for India from the series was the rise of pacer Mohammad Shami, who made an impressive debut to bowl India to victory in the last match here.
India-England ODI series
After losing the Test series 1-2 to England, India bounced back to win the five-match ODI rubber 3-2: losing the first match narrowly by nine runs, they hit back to take the next three matches before being beaten in the last game by seven wickets.
India-Australia Test series
The Kangaroos had a harrowing time dealing with the new-look Team India in the four-Test rubber for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
With a point to prove after suffering a whitewash Down Under a year ago, the Indians returned the compliment at home, decimating the Michael Clarke-led side by winning all the Tests.
There were quite a few outstanding performances, but the player, who took the honours was Shikhar Dhawan, who scored the fastest hundred by a batsman on Test debut.
IPL Spot-Fixing
The sixth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was marred with spot-fixing allegations leading to arrests of three players of the IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals – S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan.
The betting racket spread to the franchise owners, with the former Team Principal of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Gurunath Meiyappan, being arrested by the police along with small-time Bollywood actor Vindoo Dara Singh.
Meiyappan, who is also the son-in-law of BCCI president Narayanaswami Srinivasan, is currently out on bail. However, Srinivasan, whose company India Cements owns CSK, refused to step down as BCCI president and in fact got re-elected to office after fierce lobbying.
The BCCI on its part showed remarkable alacrity in banning the tainted cricketers for life and slapped a one-year-ban on Rajasthan Royals seamer Siddharth Trivedi – despite turning a prosecution witness – for not reporting to the board when he was approached by a bookie.
ICC Champions Trophy
The spot-fixing saga did not seem to affect Team India as the men-in-blue went on to win the last edition of the Champions Trophy outright for the first time.
The final against England was reduced to a Twenty20 affair and India clinched the thriller. Dhawan was the player of the series and Ravindra Jadeja the highest wicket-taker (12).
In the course, Mahendra Singh Dhoni became the first skipper to win all the major ICC trophies during his tenure – ICC World T20 (2007), ICC World Cup (2011), World No 1 in Tests (2011) and ICC Champions Trophy (2013)
West Indies Tri-series
From London, Team India flew to the Caribbean for a tri-nation series, Sri Lanka being the third team.
India won it handsomely, but an on-field spat between Suresh Raina and Jadeja was a jarring note and the duo was reprimanded by the board.
Zimbabwe tour
A second sting Team India captained by Virat Kohli completed a whitewash of minnows Zimbabwe in the five-match ODI series.
Champions League T20
After clinching the IPL 2013, Mumbai Indians bagged a rare double to win their second CLT20 title. The Rohit Sharma-led side achieved the feat here after a fierce battle against Rajasthan Royals. The final of the T20 tournament also bid goodbyes to two of the biggest names in world cricket – Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.
India-Australia ODI series:
The Australians, who suffered a white-wash in the Tests earlier in the year, returned back for a seven-match ODI series.
It was a keenly contested series with India winning 3-2 and the star of the show was Rohit Sharma, who struck a double century in the final ODI in Bangalore to enter the all-India club of double century-makers in ODIs comprising Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag.
Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement & West Indies tour
Just when India were getting ready for a tour of South Africa came Tendulkar’s retirement announcement and the BCCI quickly arranged a short two-Test series to enable the master batsman to end his career at home playing the last Test in Mumbai.
While Team India hammered the Caribbean side 2-1 in the ODIs and complete their six back to back ODI series victories, the focus was on the two Tests. Sachin’s retirement overshadowed India winning both the Tests within three days.
Billions of cricket buffs across the country and worldwide were left in tears after the iconic batsman Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar announced his retirement from the 22-yard track ending a 24-year long international career.
The 40-year-old Sachin bowed out of the game following his historic 200th Test with more than 34,000 international runs to his name, plus most of cricket’s major batting records.
The teary-eyed little master walked off to the sunset after being the highest run-getter in both forms of the game. He amassed 15,921 Tests runs with 51 centuries and 18,426 runs from 463 ODIs comprising of 49 hundreds.
Sachin also earned the distinction of being the first sportsperson to be conferred India’s highest honour, the Bharat Ratna.
The award for Sachin was made moments after the master blaster announced his retirement.
South Africa tour
Team India completed the season with the curtailed tour to South Africa for three ODIs and two Test matches.
The men-in-blue failed to acclimatise to the African conditions and lost the ODI rubber 2-0 while the third game was washed out.
In the Tests, Team India looked a completely different outfit after drawing the first Test at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.
After the first match, Protea all-rounder Jacques Kallis announced the second Test against India will be his last outing in white outfits.
Kallis, considered as one of the greatest all-rounders of all time, amassed 13,289 runs with 45 centuries. He also took 293 wickets and 200 catches.
India ended an eventful 2013 on a sour note losing the second Test against the Proteas by 10 wickets.
IPL Spot-Fixing
The sixth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was marred with spot-fixing allegations leading to arrests of three players of the IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals – S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan.
The betting racket spread to the franchise owners, with the former Team Principal of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Gurunath Meiyappan, being arrested by the police along with small-time Bollywood actor Vindoo Dara Singh.
Meiyappan, who is also the son-in-law of BCCI president Narayanaswami Srinivasan, is currently out on bail. However, Srinivasan, whose company India Cements owns CSK, refused to step down as BCCI president and in fact got re-elected to office after fierce lobbying.
The BCCI on its part showed remarkable alacrity in banning the tainted cricketers for life and slapped a one-year-ban on Rajasthan Royals seamer Siddharth Trivedi – despite turning a prosecution witness – for not reporting to the board when he was approached by a bookie.
ICC Champions Trophy
The spot-fixing saga did not seem to affect Team India as the men-in-blue went on to win the last edition of the Champions Trophy outright for the first time.
The final against England was reduced to a Twenty20 affair and India clinched the thriller. Dhawan was the player of the series and Ravindra Jadeja the highest wicket-taker (12).
In the course, Mahendra Singh Dhoni became the first skipper to win all the major ICC trophies during his tenure – ICC World T20 (2007), ICC World Cup (2011), World No 1 in Tests (2011) and ICC Champions Trophy (2013)
West Indies Tri-series
From London, Team India flew to the Caribbean for a tri-nation series, Sri Lanka being the third team.
India won it handsomely, but an on-field spat between Suresh Raina and Jadeja was a jarring note and the duo was reprimanded by the board.
Zimbabwe tour
A second sting Team India captained by Virat Kohli completed a whitewash of minnows Zimbabwe in the five-match ODI series.
Champions League T20
After clinching the IPL 2013, Mumbai Indians bagged a rare double to win their second CLT20 title. The Rohit Sharma-led side achieved the feat here after a fierce battle against Rajasthan Royals. The final of the T20 tournament also bid goodbyes to two of the biggest names in world cricket – Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.
India-Australia ODI series:
The Australians, who suffered a white-wash in the Tests earlier in the year, returned back for a seven-match ODI series.
It was a keenly contested series with India winning 3-2 and the star of the show was Rohit Sharma, who struck a double century in the final ODI in Bangalore to enter the all-India club of double century-makers in ODIs comprising Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag.
Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement & West Indies tour
Just when India were getting ready for a tour of South Africa came Tendulkar’s retirement announcement and the BCCI quickly arranged a short two-Test series to enable the master batsman to end his career at home playing the last Test in Mumbai.
While Team India hammered the Caribbean side 2-1 in the ODIs and complete their six back to back ODI series victories, the focus was on the two Tests. Sachin’s retirement overshadowed India winning both the Tests within three days.
Billions of cricket buffs across the country and worldwide were left in tears after the iconic batsman Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar announced his retirement from the 22-yard track ending a 24-year long international career.
The 40-year-old Sachin bowed out of the game following his historic 200th Test with more than 34,000 international runs to his name, plus most of cricket’s major batting records.
The teary-eyed little master walked off to the sunset after being the highest run-getter in both forms of the game. He amassed 15,921 Tests runs with 51 centuries and 18,426 runs from 463 ODIs comprising of 49 hundreds.
Sachin also earned the distinction of being the first sportsperson to be conferred India’s highest honour, the Bharat Ratna.
The award for Sachin was made moments after the master blaster announced his retirement.
South Africa tour
Team India completed the season with the curtailed tour to South Africa for three ODIs and two Test matches.
The men-in-blue failed to acclimatise to the African conditions and lost the ODI rubber 2-0 while the third game was washed out.
In the Tests, Team India looked a completely different outfit after drawing the first Test at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.
After the first match, Protea all-rounder Jacques Kallis announced the second Test against India will be his last outing in white outfits.
Kallis, considered as one of the greatest all-rounders of all time, amassed 13,289 runs with 45 centuries. He also took 293 wickets and 200 catches.
India ended an eventful 2013 on a sour note losing the second Test against the Proteas by 10 wickets. (UNI)
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