Women's WC Glory Saves Indian Cricket as Men Stumble in Tests

Year 2025 in Review

- G Unnikrishnan

The women came of age with a long-awaited World Cup trophy but Indian men's cricket was in turmoil as its white-ball peaks ended up dwarfed by the abysmal low of a home Test series whitewash, making 2025 a year of 'glorious uncertainties' for the country's favourite sport.

The men's side triumphed in the Champions Trophy (ODI) and the Asia Cup (T20), while the women brought home a maiden 50-over World Cup.

But a 0-2 hammering at the hands of South Africa in Tests laid bare India's shortcomings in the red-ball format under feisty head coach Gautam Gambhir, who was his usual combative self in both triumph and debacle.

Why is it important to dwell on a lone glitch when the rest of the year largely produced glitter? A glance back to the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy is essential to find an answer.

The 1-3 series defeat saw the Test careers of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma coming to an end, and India had already lost R Ashwin to retirement midway through the tour Down Under late last year.

Rohit and Kohli's ODI future remained a talking point through the year even though the two made it clear that they are here to stay by showing up in domestic matches as mandated by the BCCI.

Another Test stalwart Cheteshwar Pujara too formally retired from international cricket, leaving a gaping hole in the middle order that is now struggling to find a sheet anchor.

India scaffolded their journey in the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle (2025-27) on new captain Shubman Gill and a clutch of rising stars and the results so far have been mixed at best.

The beginning was bright.

A rather young India side drew the five-match away series against England 2-2 with Gill leading from front. He made 754 runs at an average of 75.40 with four hundreds, the second highest run-tally for a captain after Don Bradman's 810 in the 1936-37 Ashes.