Yearender 2025 - Trophies, Transition, Heartbreak: Three Words That Defined Indian Men's Cricket In 2025

2025 has been nothing short of a rollercoaster ride for the Indian cricket fans. While the trophy cabinet of the Indian team continued to fill up in white-ball cricket, the country's Test fortunes continued to fluctuate. Ecstasy, heartbreak, and frustration occupied fans' minds in equal parts as three words came to define the year 2025 for the Indian men's cricket team: Trophies, Transition, and Heartbreak.

2025 was the year when, just months after capturing the ICC T20 World Cup in June last year, The Men in Blue also captured the ICC Champions Trophy, their second ICC white-ball title in less than a year. It was a massive relief for Team India fans, who had started off the year by witnessing Team India surrender the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to Australia Down Under after a decade of dominance.

But just after the Champions Trophy victory, two of India's greatest stalwarts, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, hung up their whites after a prolonged slump in the format, with young Shubman Gill being the biggest beneficiary from their retirement. While Shubman, as a captain led India to a hard-fought 2-2 draw in England in one of the finest Test series in years, a neck injury to him during home Tests against South Africa also kept him away from the field, watching the great Indian Test empire crumble to heaps once again in back-to-back years, with a 0-2 whitewash series loss.

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-Trophies

Team India started off the year with the Test team being carried by the tired shoulders of their pace spearhead, Jasprit Bumrah, in Australia, as the team struggled to gain all-around consistency required to seal a series win Down Under. The series served two immensely painful images: One of the best off-side batters, Virat, nicking a Scott Boland delivery back to slips and slapping his thigh out of anger and harshly cussing himself for succumbing to the 'corridor of uncertainty' once again. One of the finest players of the cover drive could barely connect the shot, ending the tournament with just 190 runs under his belt in 190 innings, with a Perth century, a 100* being the vast majority of it.

Also, one of the game's greatest boundary hitters, Rohit Sharma, known for being able to afford to play the ball a little too late and for his lazy elegance while hitting his effortless four and sixes, could barely box against the forces of time, age, law of averages and the scorching deliveries by Australian pace attack as they managed to keep the 'Hitman' caged from his carnage causing tendencies. Rohit finished the BGT series with just 31 runs in five innings, figures fitting a tail-ender, not an all-format batting legend. With two of India's biggest stars struggling to buy a decent knock for themselves and Bumrah metaphorically and literally wounded while single-handedly carrying India's hopes with a record-shattering 32 wickets on the tour, India fumbled the BGT crown for the first time in a decade, also missing a hat-trick of series wins in Australia.

But after series wins in the ODI and T20I leg of the home series against England, Team India kick-started the ICC Champions Trophy campaign in Dubai. Key stars chipped in during every match: Shubman Gill (101*) and Mohammed Shami (fifer) against Bangladesh, Virat Kohli (100* against Pakistan), Varun Chakravarthy (fifer against New Zealand), Virat (84 against Australia) and skipper Rohit Sharma (76 against New Zealand in the final), as India captured their second-white-ball title in less than an year.

It was a moment of redemption for the Indian ODI core, which had come so close to winning the ODI World Cup at home in November 2023, but fell to Australia in a one-sided final at Ahmedabad after a monumental 10-match win streak which saw records being made everyday and Rohit, Virat, KL, Iyer, Shami and Bumrah achieving newer heights in limited-overs cricket. For KL, particularly, who made a 107-ball 66 in the ODI WC final, it was a moment of redemption. Wearing the new avatar of a finisher at number six, he posted useful contributions in the knockout stages against Australia and NZ, two opponents that had haunted him historically, finishing with 140 runs at an average of 140.00, with a strike rate in the late 90s.

Shreyas Iyer, with 243 runs in five matches at an average of 48.60 with two fifties, finished as India's top run-getter and overall second-highest run-getter in the tournament. Also, Chakravatthy (nine wickets in three matches at an average of above 15), Shami (nine wickets in five matches at an average of above 25) emerged as top-wicket-takers for India and overall second.

The new-look Team India, led by Suryakumar Yadav, also went undefeated in the Asia Cup in the UAE, winning all seven matches. This also included a hotly-contested trilogy of matches against arch-rivals Pakistan, which included the title clash. The tournament produced its share of off-the-field controversies, with Team India refusing to shake hands with Pakistan and controversy being made over Suryakumar Yadav dedicating the group stage win and title clash win against Pakistan to the Indian Armed Forces following a successful 'Operation Sindoor' on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism after Pahalgam terror attacks in April, with Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) accusing the Team India for bringing politics into cricket.

Nonetheless, Team India saw some standout performances, with Abhishek Sharma (314 runs in seven matches with three fifties and a strike rate of 200.00) announcing his arrival as India's next greatest hope in T20Is and leading the tournament's run-scoring charts.

Also, spinner Kuldeep Yadav (17 wickets in seven matches at an average of 9.29) emerged as the top-wicket-taker. During the finals, a calm, composed, and clutch 69* in 53 balls, with three fours and four sixes while chasing 147 against Pakistan, led to the Mumbai Indians (MI) star also bringing to the forefront another player with a 'clutch' game mentality of Virat and Hardik Pandya.

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-Transition

After spin wizard Ravichandran Ashwin's retirement during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024, several fans and experts raised questions about the future of Rohit and Virat, two of India's greatest batting icons, audience pullers of the modern era, would be as they struggled with form, ageing body, and reflexes in Australia. With each passing match and inning, the legend and aura took a hit. The policy of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) meant that both the superstars had to give back to the system that raised them by playing a bit of domestic cricket. However, their domestic cricket outings were underwhelming, with Virat's stumps sent cartwheeled far away by Himanshu Sangwan for just six against Railways and Rohit scoring just three and 28 against Jammu and Kashmir on his Ranji return.

In May, Team India parted ways with Rohit and Virat just before the start of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) opening series against England away from home. In Rohit's case, the 'Hitman' had left behind loads of unfulfilled potential, having gained consistency only after being given the opening slot in 2019. In 67 Tests, he scored 4,301 runs at an average of 40.57 with 12 centuries, while he could have offered so much more as suggested by his first-class numbers, currently sitting at 9,318 runs in 129 matches at an average of 49.04, with 29 centuries. Virat, who had averaged just around 30 since the beginning of 2020, left behind a series of 'what ifs' after registering one of the steepest fall-offs in cricket history. Such was the disappointment of Indian fans on Virat's retirement that his 9,230 runs at an average of 46.85, with 30 centuries and 31 fifties in 123 Tests, feel underwhelming. He ended as India's fourth-highest run-getter in Test cricket, but failed to reach the 10,000-run mark, a major benchmark of greatness in red-ball cricket.

The biggest beneficiary of their departure with Shubman, who was elevated to captaincy of a new-look Team India at the age of 25, with him, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, and Rishabh Pant forming the new batting core. The results were encouraging in England. Despite the fact India missed their two big-ticket-sellers in Ro-Ko, millions tuned in as the five-match series produced 25 full days of epic Test match cricket, ending in an enthralling 2-2 draw. Gill carried out a massive re-writing of batting records with a 754-run series at an average of 75.40, with four centuries and best score of 269. Having not registered a half-century outside Asia since series-sealing 91 at Brisbane in 2021, which earned a cult status, Gill was under immense pressure. But as it is said, 'Pressure makes diamonds'.

Gill went from being questioned for even his inclusion in playing XI and elevation as skipper to being the torch-bearer for the next generation of India's Test batting, as it took 25 days of enthralling Test cricket, glimpses of strong, relentless leadership, and some serious composure with the bat to change the narrative.

This trust in Gill's capabilities seeped into limited-overs formats too, as he was appointed as the ODI captain, with two years to go for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2027, replacing Rohit, the man who had the nation dancing in unison after two ICC titles within less than a year. While he did lose his first series in charge in Australia by 2-1, there is still a long road to go for Gill.

Gill ended the year as top run-getter in men's international cricket, with 1,764 runs in 35 matches at an average of 49.00, seven centuries and three fifties in 42 innings. In Tests, he scored 983 runs in nine matches at an average of 70.21, with five centuries and a fifty. In 11 ODIs, he made 490 runs at an average of 49.00, with two centuries and fifties each. T20Is were his sole format of struggle, scoring just 291 runs in 15 innings with no fifty at an average of just over 24.

The keys to drive the next generation of Indian cricket lie in the hands of Gill-Pant (Tests), Gill-Iyer (ODIs), Suryakumar Yadav-Axar Patel (T20Is) as a captaincy and vice-captaincy duo.

-Heartbreak

Now comes the most painful part of the story. After the series draw against England and an easy 2-0 series win against West Indies at home, it seemed Team India would stand on its two feet again without Rohit-Virat after recent retirements and setbacks. However, the ICC World Test Champions (WTC) South Africa, led by Temba Bavuma, arrived as men on a mission. With their path to ICC World Test Championship title involving weaker teams like Bangladesh, Pakistan, and West Indies meeting criticism for not presenting a truly big challenge to the Proteas, they had to conquer what had been for long been described as the 'Final Frontier' for overseas teams, a series win in India.

Bavuma's 55* and Gill's absence due to neck injury were the points of difference as India could not chase down an easy 124 runs at Kolkata's Eden Gardens, bundling out for just 93 and losing their 13-year win streak at the venue. In the next match at Guwahati, some serious hitting down the order by Marco Jansen, maiden Test ton from Senuran Muthusamy, and fine bowling spells from spinner Simon Harmer and Jansen handed India their worst-ever Test loss, by 408 runs and their second whitewash in back-to-back years after a 0-3 loss to New Zealand last year.

Simon Harmer (17 wickets in two matches at an average of 8.94), Jansen (12 wickets at an average of 10.08 and 106 runs with a best score of 93), Bavuma (102 in four innings with a fifty) had left India contemplating what was wrong? Were excessively pace/spin friendly prepared for easy WTC points a culprit, or were the batters just not working on their technique anymore? The condition of Indian batters at home was a far cry from the dominance of Rohit, Virat, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Ajinkya Rahane in their peak years.