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'One of the best years for Indian cricket' – Virat Kohli reflects on 2019

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Virat Kohli, the India captain, said 2019 was one of the best years for Indian cricket, following his side's 2-1 series win against West Indies after a nervy victory in the final ODI on Sunday, 22 December.

In the decider in Cuttack, India chased down a 316-run target with eight balls to spare thanks to valuable half-centuries from their top three, and a key 58-run sixth-wicket stand between Kohli (85) and Ravindra Jadeja (39*). This was India's 10th bilateral series victory on a trot against West Indies.

The Indian captain himself had a good year, scoring 2,370 across formats at an average of 64.05. It's the fourth consecutive time that Kohli aggregated 2000-plus runs in a calendar year.

India won seven of the eight Tests they played this year, with one of them ending in a draw. There were 19 ODI wins in 28 matches, and nine T20Is victories out of 16. India also reached the semi-finals of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2019.

"2019 has been one of the best years for Indian cricket," Kohli said after victory in Cuttack. "Apart from the 30 minutes [in the semifinal loss against New Zealand] in the World Cup, it's been a great year. We'll keep chasing that ICC trophy, this group deserves it for the amount of hard work we have put in. We have a vision in place."

Kohli lauded his pace-bowling unit, saying they were a key reason for the good year India has had. "Having a bunch of fast bowlers who can bowl out any opposition anywhere – them taking the attention away from the spinners in India is a huge achievement. We feel we have it in us to win series overseas, not just the odd game."

Rohit Sharma, the limited-overs vice-captain, who ended 2019 at the top of the ODI run charts with 1490 runs, said he was keen to keep at the runs next year. "Extremely grateful for the year I've had," he said.

"Personally I've enjoyed batting, but there's no way I'm stopping. There's an exciting year coming up. I understand my batting really well. I want to play within my limits, knowing the gameplan you want to execute is very, very important."

https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/1543815
 
To be fair to Kohli, after winning a WC, an away victory in Australia is the biggest achievement. We attained that but failed in the WC. Not a bad year at all. However, we really need to look into our inability to win an icc trophy in the last 5 years.
 
Would have been if we won the WC. But since we lost, I would rate 2011 above this year and even 1983. Nothing matches a WC win, not even a series win in Aus or even series win in all SENA countries in same year.

WC is the pinnacle of the sport. Simple as that.
 
King kohli is taking india to new heights. Just need worldcup title to complete the missing blank
 
Not really. 2019 has been a disappointing year for India if anything. Lost the WC and lost the series against Australia at home despite being the strongest team. Apart from that Test win in Australia, 2019 was a disappointment from India’s point of view.
 
Not really. 2019 has been a disappointing year for India if anything. Lost the WC and lost the series against Australia at home despite being the strongest team. Apart from that Test win in Australia, 2019 was a disappointment from India’s point of view.

Won ODI series in Australia and NZ. Test series win against a WI team that bulldozed England in WI.

It's been a great year. Could have been better with a WC win of course.

2011, apart from the WC win was arguably our worst ever.
 
Decent year but not convinced it was "one of the best" years for Indian cricket.

The highlights for me were their performances in the longest format courtesy of their pace attack who have been nothing short of excellent this year.
 
Topped the table at the icc world cup and defeated everyone except NZ , Eng and reached Semis! series wins In Australia, Newzealand, Windies! Yeah, 2019 was one of the best years for Indian cricket!
 
In the first half of this decade when india was winning odi trophies left right and centre critics said that test is the premier format and we have achieved nothing in that.

Now that we are no. 1 in tests world cup is the only thing that matters. :yk

Australia test series win> world cup for me.
This year we achieved the greatest test series victory by an asian team ever so yeah its been an amazing year.
 
It was indeed the best year for India Cricket team. Apart from the World Cup failure everything was positive, especially the emergence of world class fast bowling unit.
 
2011 world cup happened in India. India was expected to win. I am glad we won. But not really such a monumental task to win in India.
 
By the way he said "One of the best" not "THE BEST". ONe of the best means, he acknowledges there were other good years as well.
 
8-0. 2011 was arguably India's worst year in test cricket.

To OP, it would have been the best year ever had India won the WC. But can't deny we have played solid competitive cricket all year.

Majority of Indians will remember 2011 as the year in which we won world cup for many decades to come. Only a few hardcore fans (like the ones on PP) will remember the 8-0. Fact is, world cup defines the legacy and 2019 will be remembered for England's win over NZ.

From pure cricketing terms as a hardcore fan, I can understand your POV.
 
Trophies are overrated. They add gloss but don’t make or break a team. Pakistan won the Champions Trophy and West Indies won two World T20s and it changed nothing for those two declining mediocrities.

Teams have to strive for consistency across all formats. The margin between winning or losing tournaments is often very slim and luck plays a factor as well.

England deserved to win the World Cup but even if they wouldn’t have, they would still deserve to be called the best ODI team in the world because of their consistency over the last 4 years.
 
Trophies are overrated. They add gloss but don’t make or break a team. Pakistan won the Champions Trophy and West Indies won two World T20s and it changed nothing for those two declining mediocrities.

Teams have to strive for consistency across all formats. The margin between winning or losing tournaments is often very slim and luck plays a factor as well.

England deserved to win the World Cup but even if they wouldn’t have, they would still deserve to be called the best ODI team in the world because of their consistency over the last 4 years.

Lol at trophies being overrated :))

Tell South Africa that :))

This is up there with [MENTION=2501]Savak[/MENTION]’s ‘Fitness is overrated’

The lengths you go man...
 
Lol at trophies being overrated :))

Tell South Africa that :))

This is up there with [MENTION=2501]Savak[/MENTION]’s ‘Fitness is overrated’

The lengths you go man...

You always want something you don’t have. India have plenty of silverware and the likes of Kohli etc. are World Cup winners already.

Winning another World Cup may not as attractive as it is for South Africa who have won nothing apart from the 1998 knockout cup.

For example, England were desperate to win the World Cup but they probably won’t be this desperate to win in 2023. I think they would rather win the WTC.

What India is achieving under Kohli in Test cricket is unprecedented success for an Asian side in Test cricket. No former Indian and Pakistani side has come close to replicating such consistency.

There is no point in downplaying their success because of not winning something that might not be of the greatest importance to them.

Will Kohli trade the number 1 Test ranking and his incredible winning ratio for the World Cup? I don’t think so.
 
You always want something you don’t have. India have plenty of silverware and the likes of Kohli etc. are World Cup winners already.

Winning another World Cup may not as attractive as it is for South Africa who have won nothing apart from the 1998 knockout cup.

For example, England were desperate to win the World Cup but they probably won’t be this desperate to win in 2023. I think they would rather win the WTC.

What India is achieving under Kohli in Test cricket is unprecedented success for an Asian side in Test cricket. No former Indian and Pakistani side has come close to replicating such consistency.

There is no point in downplaying their success because of not winning something that might not be of the greatest importance to them.

Will Kohli trade the number 1 Test ranking and his incredible winning ratio for the World Cup? I don’t think so.

Kohli May or may not trade his number 1 test ranking for a World Cup. He has said he wants to win the World Cup again especially since in the first one he was a young buck, had minimal role and bashed Bangladesh in opening match and went missing largely. He has a burning desire to win the WC, like he did to do well in England. However, this is all speculation and we will never know for sure either way.

What we do know is that it’s not binary choices. Test cricket and One Day cricket are entirely different beasts and success or failure In one does not cover for the other.

And for one days and t20s, trophies are all that matter. Nobody remembers South Africa being number 1 ODI side in the world in late 2000s or England being number one side in the world in Alaistar Cook’s tenure.

Kohli and his team have been amazing in test cricket. The domination at home is on par to the Aussie and WI domination. Away performances are not as good as those two but world class regardless
 
I want to see how India does in England next time. If they win or draw I don’t think people can argue much against it being the best Asian side ever.
 
India are a consistent team. If they can add a ICC tournament win and win the test championship it will probably go down as the greatest period in Indian cricket.

They have a lot to be excited over the coming years. The only downer of the year was not winning the WC. The manner which they lost the semi was not good enough for a team of India’s quality and expectation.
 
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