India in 2015 - The Year in Review

Virat Kohli takes charge

Crippled by the surprise mid-series retirement of their experienced skipper MS Dhoni, at the end of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, the team management passed on the baton to young Virat Kohli. Aggressive by nature, in a sharp contrast to Dhoni, Kohli led from the front to save the fourth Test but India conceded the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-0. The unfortunate, untimely death of Phillip Hughes that preceded the series, however, diluted the celebrations for the hosts. In-charge of his first full series, Kohli led the team to an emphatic come-from-behind 2-1 win in Sri Lanka, before crushing the no. 1 ranked South Africa 3-0 at home.

Tri-series debacle

Team India's title defence at the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup came under serious doubts as the defending champions failed to win even a single fixture in the Tri-series, involving hosts Australia and England, that preceded the mega-event. Ravi Shastri, the team director however, quashed all criticism calling the event a "sheer waste of time" right before the all-important ICC event.

February 15: India vs Pakistan

Much criticized after their early exit from the preceding tri-series, Team India's title defence began against arch-rivals Pakistan. Virat Kohli slammed a fine century to propel India to 300 - a total that proved too tall a mountain to climb for an uncoordinated Pakistan. The doubts over India's competitiveness were rubbished almost immediately as the defending champions comfortably won the much-awaited tie to maintain their cent percent record against the neighbours at ICC events.

February 22: India vs South Africa

At the World Cup, India were grouped along with an inconsistent Pakistan, a clueless West Indies, three minnows - Zimbabwe, UAE and Ireland - and their only real test at the league stage was going to be the South African side. Dhawan and Rahane's onslaught took India to a commanding 307 but the match that was expected to be high-voltage, soon turned one-sided as the Proteas succumbed to a massive 130-run loss, making India's way to the knockouts more convenient.

March 26: India vs Australia, 2nd semi-final - ICC World Cup

After finishing on top of their group table, and demolishing Bangladesh in the quarters, India's World Cup campaign came to an end with the 95-run loss to the eventual winners Australia in the semis. At the business end of the tournament, the defending champions' luck finally ran out. India's batting unit failed to respond to the only serious challenge they were posed with in the showpiece event. After a solid opening sand, in their chase of 329, India threw the advantage away by losing wickets at regular intervals. Ajinkya Rahane and skipper MS Dhoni chipped in, but the lack of a defining partnership put an end to India's sojourn.

March 3: Dalmiya takes over BCCI

After the calls for N. Srinivasan's ouster gained momentum, former chief Jagmohan Dalmiya made a comeback at the helm after being elected unopposed in the board elections held in Chennai. In a major setback to the Srinivasan camp, Sanjay Patel, a close aide of the beleaguered BCCI chief, lost the post of board secretary to Anurag Thakur by a narrow margin of just a single vote.

May 24: Mumbai Indians lift second IPL title

They failed to open their account on the points table for as long as their fifth game, and yet, Mumbai Indians scripted one of the most dramatic turnarounds to lift the 2015 Indian Premier League trophy by crushing the most successful team of the league - Chennai Super Kings. Skipper Rohit Sharma led from the front, hammering a brutal fifty in the do-or-die clash to power his team to a commanding 202. Once Harbhajan got rid of Dwayne Smith, who top scored with 57, and Suresh Raina, the CSK batters failed to revive the chase and went down by 41 runs.

July 14: Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals suspended

In a bid to clean up the cash-rich IPL, the Supreme Court-appointed panel, led by Justice RM Lodha, slapped a two-year suspension on two of the most popular teams of the league - Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals - after proving the involvement of their team officials, Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kunra respectively, in illegal betting on their own teams. The suspension dealt a severe blow to not only the credibility of the tournament, but also put a question mark over the participation of the players that represented the two franchises.

June: Bangladesh series

Labelled flat-track bullies more often than not, Team India got a stern reality check as minnows Bangladesh outfoxed a relatively stronger team, at least on paper, 2-1 at home. A star-studded line-up failed to chase 300 in the first game and then folded for 200 in the second to give the hosts an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. Dhawan and Dhoni picked up a consolation in the final game but the series was long gone.

July: Zimbabwe Tour

Dropped from the team for a mediocre performance against Bangladesh, Ajinkya Rahane suddenly found himself leading the unit on their next international assignment in Zimbabwe. In the absence of the stars, Rahane led the team to a reassuring 3-0 win in the ODI series before drawing the 2-match T20I series 1-1.

Cricbuzz Cup

After losing the series opener, Team India came back in style to spoil Kumar Sangakkara's farewell with a series-leveling 278-run victory in Colombo. Adding insult to injury, India went on to win the series by 2-1 margin after registering another emphatic with third and final game by 117 runs. Not only did Virat Kohli have a winning start to his term as full-time Test captain, India too registered their first series win on Sri Lankan soil in 22 years.

September 20: Jagmohan Dalmiya passes away

Unarguably the most iconic cricket administrators in the country, Jagmohan Dalmiya breathed his last on September 20, three days after being admitted to the hospital following a massive cardiac arrest. After a 10-year hiatus, and despite his fragile health, Dalmiya took over the reigns of the maligned BCCI in March upon being elected unopposed during the board's AGM. Often credited for making BCCI the richest governing body in the world, Dalmiya had a major hand in putting India on the ICC map. "He has a vision for the game's progress that I haven't heard enunciated by any other so-called leader among cricket officials," former Australian cricketer Ian Chappell said. Dalmiya, who was also the chief of Cricket Association of Bengal at the time of his demise, was succeeded by former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly at the helm.

15 October: Zaheer Khan calls it quits

One of India's most successful pacers, Zaheer Khan took to twitter to announce his retirement from international and first-class cricket. In a career marred by injuries, Zak finished with the second-highest wickets tally in Tests - 311 -behind Kapil Dev's 434. His last appearance would be the 2016 edition of IPL.

"Cricket has been my only life over the past two decades and is in fact the only thing I know well. Cricket has made me the individual that I am, giving me everything in life and much more. I walk away with fantastic memories, life-defining experiences and great friendships." Zaheer said as he signed off.

23 October: Virender Sehwag follows

Indian cricket fans had barely recovered from the Zak jolt before the rumours of Virender Sehwag's retirement gained momentum on social media, on October 22. Even though Sehwag categorically denied having taken a decision, a day later on his 37th birthday, the Najafgarh star formally broke the news on microblogging site Twitter. Nonchalant even in his retirement speech, Sehwag concluded, "I also want to thank everyone for all the cricketing advice given to me over the years and apologise for not accepting most of it! I had a reason for not following it: I did it my way!"

DDCA, home association for most part of his career, felicitated the swashbuckling opener before the start of the fourth and final Test of the India-South Africa series, by naming two stands to mark Sehwag's twin triple centuries - as 'Viru 319 End' and 'Viru 309 End'.

November-December: Mahatma Gandhi - Nelson Mandela Test Series

The debate on doctoring pitches aside, India produced an all-round performance to put an end to South Africa's nine-year overseas record, by winning the inaugural Mahatma Gandhi-Nelson Mandela series 3-0. Since 2008, South Africa won 10 of their 14 series abroad and drew the remaining four before landing in the sub-continent. Ashwin, Proteas' tormentor-in-chief, finished with 31 wickets in nine innings to script India's sweet revenge for the limited-overs series loss.

December 1: Nagpur pitch fiasco

If the track in Mohali, offered for the first Test between India and South Africa that ended inside three days, was considered bad advertisement for Test cricket, the one in Nagpur - venue for the third game - triggered an outrage over the extent to which the hosts went to ensure they get a pitch that suits their strengths. The low-scoring affair, where India scored 215 and 173 and South Africa managed 79 - their lowest since their readmission into international cricket - and 185, too was wrapped up under three days with spinners accounting for 33 of the 40 wickets. Despite no complaints from the visitors, the ICC issued an official warning to the association.

December 8: IPL welcomes Pune, Rajkot

After suffering a damaging blow to its reputation with the 2013 spot-fixing saga and the subsequent mud-slinging that preceded the suspension of CSK and RR, IPL turned a new leaf by welcoming two new teams - Pune and Rajkot - to the mix. New Rising's Sanjeev Goenka's negative bid for Rs. 16 crore won him the Pune franchise while Intex's Keshav Bansal bagged the Rajkot one with a negative bid of Rs. 10 crore.

15 December: IPL Player Draft

After finalizing the teams, the IPL governing council invited the two new owners to draft a basic nucleus of their team by picking five players each, one by one, from the two squads owned by CSK and RR as per the 2015 edition. Thanks to their lowest bid, Pune earned the advantage of picking the first player. While MS Dhoni was Pune's obvious first choice, Rajkot went for Suresh Raina before opting for Ravindra Jadeja - the local hero - as their second choice player. This is how the two new teams look ahead of the main player auctions, scheduled for February, 2016:

Pune- MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin, Steven Smith and Faf du Plessis

Rajkot- Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Brendon McCullum, James Faulkner, Dwayne Bravo

December 19: Yuvraj, Nehra stage comeback

There is no age for comebacks. Yuvraj Singh and Ashish Nehra proved just that after earning a recall to India's T20I squad for the upcoming tour of Australia in January 2016. Yuvi, who hasn't been a part of the national squad since the 2014 T20 final, and Nehra whose last game in India colours was back in 2011, were handed a fresh lease of life as selectors opted to back the seniors in the lead up to the all-important ICC World Twenty20 in March.

December: Pakistan series called off

Nobody knew when exactly a decision would be made, and yet everyone, against all hopes, waited with bated breadth for the resumption of cricketing ties between arch-rivals India and Pakistan. It seemed highly unlikely right from the start, but even after the two boards decided on an undisclosed mutual venue, after weeks of deliberation, the final call was left to the two governments. The possibility slowly fizzled out as time lapsed and Indian government failed to confirm their participation.

Top performer of the year: R Ashwin

With 62 scalps from 9 games, he finished 2015 as the highest wicket-taker in the longest format of the game. He walked away with a back-to-back Man of the Series awards as India registered historic series win against both Sri Lanka and South Africa. That coupled with his three handy fifties, Ashwin leapfrogged to the numero uno spot in the ICC rankings for Test all-rounders.

Worst performer of the year: Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina bags this dubious distinction only because of the high standards he has set for himself. He kick started 2015 with pair of ducks in the Sydney Test. Would Cup was probably the only high point of his year where he scored a match-winning ton, albeit against minnows Zimbabwe, and couple of fifties - against Pakistan in the tournament opener and Bangladesh in the quarters. The downward journey started since then. In the ten outings post World Cup, Raina has scored a meagre 223 runs, with only one fifty in the series loss against South Africa at home. In the 17 games he played for now defunct Chennai Super Kings, Raina scored 374 runs at a below par average touching almost 25.

Promising player of the year: Manish Pandey

Handed his ODI debut, in the absence of national stars on tour to Zimbabwe, Manish Pandey cracked a fine 71 in the third game to set up a comfortable victory for the tourists. Amongst the most consistent performers in the IPL, the selectors rewarded Pandey by naming him in the ODI squad for the upcoming tour of Australia, ahead of the likes of Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu. The 26-year-old now aims to make the most of this opportunity to stake a claim for the World Twenty20 side.

The year that will be

The year that was

While the Test team started a new chapter - under Virat Kohli's leadership - and exceeded the expectations in 2015, it was the limited-overs performance that left fans disappointed. The semifinal exit from the World Cup, surprise loss against Bangladesh and in the home series against South Africa.

The defending champions were lucky to have been drawn in the easier of two groups in the World and got the easiest of all opponents in the quarterfinals before the eventual winners Australia knocked them out, one step shy. Bangladesh outplayed a complacent India for their maiden series win against the neighbours. India next went on to play spoilsport in Sangakkara's farewell. The touring South African side stunned the hosts with a comprehensive 3-2 win in the ODIs but the 3-0 victory in the Tests helped India end their season on a high.

Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli were the stand out performers amongst the batsmen but it was spinner Ravichandaran Ashwin who stole the limelight with his consistent all-round show.