Indian Cricket Yearender 2021: Highlights of 2021 – The year 2021 has been a mixed one for Indian cricket. While the year started with the brightest possible note as India registered a famous victory at the Gabba under Ajinkya Rahane’s captaincy, the second wave of pandemic, T20 World Cup debacle and the tiff between BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and Test skipper Virat Kohli were the highlights. Follow InsideSport.IN for interesting cricket stories.
Despite the pandemic related struggles, the BCCI managed to complete the IPL 2021 and home series against England besides the T20 World Cup. But not everything went well for Team India. InsideSport takes a look at such high points and low points of Indian cricket in 2021.
Indian Cricket Yearender 2021: From Australia heroics to T20 WC debacle, Kohli-Ganguly tussle, biggest highlights for Indian cricket in 2021 – Check out
Highpoints:
1. Defending Border-Gavaskar Trophy: India looked like a confident unit going to Australia after a lengthy pandemic break. But soon the tides turned against the team. Skipper Virat Kohli was unavailable due to birth of his first child in the last three Tests while injuries plagued the team. But against all odds, Team India managed to win the series 2-1 powered by Rishabh Pant and a young pace bowling attack to defend the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
2. The famous win at Gabba: Moments before India registered an epic draw in the third Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground, skipper Tim Paine had engaged in a verbal duel with Ravichandran Ashwin. “Can’t wait for you to reach Gabba, Ash (Ravichandran Ashwin),” Paine said, keeping in mind that the hosts had last lost a game at their fortress back in November 1988. Being undefeated for 32 years at a single venue gave Paine a sense of pride that bordered on arrogance. The injury woes in the Indian ranks only compounded the problems for the visitors. However, Rishabh Pant’s heroics on the final day, saw India breaching the fortress, and as a result, India won the series 2-1.
Indian Cricket Yearender 2021: From Australia heroics to T20 WC debacle, Kohli-Ganguly tussle, biggest highlights for Indian cricket in 2021 – Check out
3. India tour of England: The next big highlight was India’s performance in the Test series against England. The fifth match will be played in 2022, but heading into that match, India would enter with a 2-1 series lead and they are on the brink of registering a famous Test win. India’s pace attack outbowled England’s and everyone from Jasprit Bumrah to Mohammed Siraj brought their A-game to stun England on their own soil. KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma must also be named as the duo set the stage for India in most of the innings.
Indian Cricket Yearender 2021: From Australia heroics to T20 WC debacle, Kohli-Ganguly tussle, biggest highlights for Indian cricket in 2021 – Check out
4. Rahul Dravid’s appointment as head coach: The T20 World Cup brought an end to Ravi Shastri’s tenure as head coach and he was replaced by Rahul Dravid. “In Rahul Dravid, they’ve got a guy who has inherited a great team and I think with his experience, he can only raise the bar in time to come,” said outgoing coach Ravi Shastri. With Rahul Dravid as the head coach, Sourav Ganguly as the BCCI President and VVS Laxman as the NCA head, it brought together the three of the Fab 4 of Indian cricket together once again.
Low Points: Apart from the above three, India’s home series win against England and New Zealand are the other two high points but it was not unexpected. But that’s about it. England tour was followed by Virat Kohli’s announcement to step down as the T20I captain and then the WC debacle.
Indian Cricket Yearender 2021: From Australia heroics to T20 WC debacle, Kohli-Ganguly tussle, biggest highlights for Indian cricket in 2021 – Check out
1. Loss to NZ in WTC Final: With a thrashing of England at home, a confident Virat Kohli & Co were expected to beat New Zealand and lift the WTC title. But India were outgunned by the Kiwis as Kane Williamson & Co ended their ICC trophy drought.
1. T20 World Cup debacle: India failed to reach the semi-finals and it sums up a poor show. The Men in Blue even ended up losing against Pakistan, and this was the first time that India lost to Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup. It was followed by an eight-wicket thrashing from New Zealand, ending India’s hopes of reaching the semifinals.
Performances against Pakistan and New Zealand left a lot to be wondered about even after the dressing room had the presence of MS Dhoni as a mentor. The results can be put forward as a debacle and India’s ICC tournament drought continues on.
Indian Cricket Yearender 2021: From Australia heroics to T20 WC debacle, Kohli-Ganguly tussle, biggest highlights for Indian cricket in 2021 – Check out
2. Virat Kohli removed from captaincy: After Virat Kohli decided to step down from T20 captaincy, selectors allegedly gave him 90 minutes’ notice and removed him from ODI captaincy ahead of the South Africa tour. It ended one of the most successful ODI skippers’ reign abruptly as Rohit Sharma was elevated to ODI captaincy.
🇮🇳 ❤️ pic.twitter.com/Ds7okjhj9J
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) September 16, 2021
Indian Cricket Yearender 2021: From Australia heroics to T20 WC debacle, Kohli-Ganguly tussle, biggest highlights for Indian cricket in 2021 – Check out
3. Sourav Ganguly-Virat Kohli tussle: However, the biggest talking point and controversy has come almost at the end of 2021 as Virat Kohli and BCCI President Sourav Ganguly are at loggerheads over the removal of Kohli as the ODI skipper.
A day after Kohli was removed as the ODI captain, BCCI President Ganguly had told ANI that he had indeed spoken to Virat regarding the leadership change adding that he had requested Virat to also not give up the T20I captaincy.
“It’s a call that the BCCI and the selectors took together. Actually, the BCCI had requested Virat to not step down as the T20I skipper but obviously, he did not agree. And the selectors then did not feel it right to have two different captains for two white-ball formats,” Ganguly had told ANI.
However, Virat Kohli in a press conference contradicted Ganguly, saying he was never asked to leave the T20I captaincy.
“Whatever was said about the communication that happened during the decision that was made was inaccurate. I was contacted one-and-a-half hours before the selection meeting on 8th for the Test series,” said Kohli.
Indian Cricket Yearender 2021: From Australia heroics to T20 WC debacle, Kohli-Ganguly tussle, biggest highlights for Indian cricket in 2021 – Check out
