Many hits and some misses: Indian cricket’s journey through the year 2022

There were many ups and downs for the Indian cricket in 2022. It was promising for the Indian team as Virat Kohli bounced back to form after more than a three-year-long struggle and he was ably supported during these days by his skipper Rohit Sharma and the team management. However, the year began with some disappointments. India lost two Tests in January, losing the series against South Africa 1-2. Similarly, the multilateral tournaments, too, remained an area of concern for the Indian cricket.

Miserable campaigns by Team India: Asia Cup and T20 World Cup

The first test for Rohit as India’s skipper was in Asia Cup in August-September. India failed badly. The Men in Blue lost to Sri Lanka and Pakistan in the Super Four and eventually were bowed out before the final.

Much like Asia Cup, India’s T20 World Cup campaign in October-November was also ended in failure. In the group stage, the team topped the table. But in the semi-finals, the English lions slaughtered the Blue Tigers by 10 wickets.

The only positive outcome of the two multilateral tournaments was Virat Kohli’s form. The modern-day great regained his touch, scoring a century for the first time in T20Is. He hit 122* off 61 balls against Afghanistan in Asia Cup to end his more than a three-year-long draught of centuries.

Kohli was also the top run-getter in the T20 World Cup and played a memorable knock against Pakistan. He scored a match-winning 83 off 52 balls and hit the iconic six off Haris Rauf.

Equal Pay Policy

A good news came for the Indian women’s team in October as Jay Shah, BCCI’s honorary secretary, announced equal match fees for both men and women cricketers. However, this does not mean that both men and women cricketers in India will be paid the same. The grading system, which decides the annual salary of cricketers, was not changed and only the match fees were brought at par.

After this change, both India’s men and women cricketers will earn Rs 15 lakh for a Test, Rs 6 lakh for an ODI and Rs 3 lakh for a T20I each.

The U-19 team won yet another World Cup

Another good news came when the Indian men’s Under-19 team beat England in the final to lift a record fifth title, the highest for any side. The India side remained undefeated throughout its World Cup campaign.

Women cricket got the much-needed recognition

After a slow start to the year, Indian women cricketers rose to prominence. In March, they failed to reach the semi-finals of the ODI World Cup. However, putting the past behind them, the Indian women beat hosts England in a semi-final match of the Commonwealth Games to win a historic cricket medal.

In the final against Australia, the Indian team lost narrowly. Needing 44 runs to win on a total 162 put by Australia, they lost the last seven wickets for just 34 runs.

After that loss, the blue tigresses beat England (3-0) on their home turf in an ODI series. However, Deepti Sharma running out Charlie Dean after the latter backed up way too far overshadowed the triumph.

Australia Women then toured India in December. With free entry to the stadiums for this series, the crowds thronged the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai. More than 47,000 people watched Harmanpreet Kaur and her team beat the Aussies in a Super Over in the second match.

Also this year, BCCI announced that there will be a Women’s IPL which will begin in 2023.

Legends bid adieu: Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami’s era ends

Women cricket legends Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami bid adieu to all forms of cricket this year. The two who gave women’s cricket the current recognition decided to hang their boots, albeit not together.

While Mithali retired in June, just after the below-par ODI World Cup campaign. Jhulan received quite a farewell as the women’s team beat England 3-0 in a historic ODI series in England as the “Chakdaha express” took two wickets in the final game to end with a total of 355 wickets, the most by a woman cricketer in the history of the game.

Also Read: Cricket legend Mithali Raj announces retirement from all forms of the game

Mithali also retired with the highest number of runs scored by a woman in international cricket. She has to her kitty 10,868 runs.

The big fat IPL auctions

Towards the end of the year, a mini auction in the richest cricket league was held in Kochi. Sam Curran became the highest-paid cricketer in the history of IPL auctions as the Englishman fetched a whopping Rs 18.5 crore from Punjab Kings’ coffers.

While Cameron Green got Rs 17.5 crore bid from Mumbai Indians, Ben Stokes received Rs 16.25 crore from Chennai Super Kings to become the second- and third-highest paid cricketers this year.