Published On : Tue, Dec 20th, 2022
By Nagpur Today Nagpur News

Disappointing End to Good Year for India’s White-Ball Teams

India’s limited overs teams ended 2022 with a three-match ODI series in Bangladesh, and unfortunately for those players, they were defeated 2-1, which was their second consecutive series loss, after also losing to New Zealand.

The visitors were beaten in the opening two games of the series in Bangladesh, which meant by the time the third game came around, they were only playing for pride in Chittagong.

India were bowled out for 186 in the opening ODI in Mirpur. Their bowlers put up a strong fight as they tried to defend that score, but the hosts eventually got to their target with one wicket to spare.

In the second ODI in Dhaka, Bangladesh set India a target of 271, largely thanks to Mehidy Hasan’s unbeaten 100. Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel and Rohit Sharma all scored half-centuries, but the visitors fell short by five runs.

India produced an outstanding performance in the third and final ODI of the series. They batted first in that game, scoring 409. Ishan Kishan was the star of the day, hitting the fastest double century in ODI history, with 210 runs coming from 131 balls. Virat Kohli also supported him with 113 from 91 deliveries. Bangladesh could only reach 182 in their response to that mammoth total.

T20 World Cup Disappointment Will Hurt

India went into the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia as one of the teams fancied to go all the way to the trophy. Despite having a great record in international T20 cricket since it was launched, they have only once been successful in this tournament, which was in the inaugural year when they beat Pakistan in the final in 2007.

Excitement was high in 2022 when India qualified for the semi-finals of the T20 competition, however, they were hammered by the eventual winners England in the last-four encounter. After scoring what looked like a par score of 168/6 in their innings, India’s bowlers just could not break England’s opening partnership, which meant they lost by an emphatic 10 wickets, with 24 balls left to spare.

India will be hoping they can end their long wait for the trophy when the next T20 World Cup comes along in 2024 in the West Indies and the United States. As of the 14th of December, they are the 3/1 joint-favourites in the cricket betting for the tournament, alongside the defending champions England.

Despite their semi-final exit in Australia, India remain top of the world rankings in T20 cricket with the ICC. After 63 matches, they have 16,881 points, which is 3,000 higher than the next-best team, England.

Positives to Take from 2022

Although the T20 World Cup, the home series against New Zealand and the defeat in Bangladesh is a disappointing way to end the year, there are still a lot of positives to take from 2022 for India’s white-ball teams.

In February, India won all six of their matches at home to the West Indies. That consisted of three ODIs and three T20Is. They then completed a clean sweep against Sri Lanka, winning the T20 series 3-0.

Arguably the highlight of the year for India was their tour of England. They beat the hosts in their T20 and ODI series. The tour began with T20 action, and they won the opening two matches in that format to wrap up the series with one game to spare. In the three-match ODI series, they were successful in the decider, with victory coming at Old Trafford in Manchester.

More recently, India dominated the West Indies in their tour of the Caribbean. They lost just one of their eight matches against the Windies across ODI and T20 games. That tour allowed them to rest some of their biggest names and give players who were on the fringes of the team the chance to shine.

The Asia Cup then started well with victory coming against rivals Pakistan. However, India failed to qualify for the final, with Sri Lanka beating Pakistan in that match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

India have a lot to look forward to in 2023, including the Cricket World Cup in October and November where they will play hosts. They will be hoping the year produces an even better set of results than it did in 2022, starting with their home series against New Zealand, with whom they will be playing in three ODIs and three T20Is in the early stages of the year.