India’s 2025 in a nutshell as highs have gone hand-in-hand with the lows as trophies and torment were found equally.
India’s 2025 will go down in cricket history as the year that sparked a revolution. After being written off halfway through the competition, they triumphantly over Australia in the semi-final to record the greatest successful chase in women’s ODI cricket. They then battled valiantly to win their first ICC trophy in the final. The ODI World Cup at home is the major one at that. Those who were eager to dismiss them were had to restrain their zeal.
Meanwhile, the change continued in men’s cricket. They lost 2-0 to South Africa, the world Test champions, and were whitewashed for the second time in a year after going 12 years without losing a home Test series. With a youthful squad and a rookie captain, they were pleased to draw 2-2 in England, but it was essentially a missed chance against a team that would lose the Ashes in just 11 days.
However, the guys continued to show off their strength in shorter formats. India improved their win-loss record in the previous three ICC white-ball events to 24-1 by winning the Champions Trophy. They appear to be heavy favourites for the 2026 T20 World Cup and won every game in the T20 Asia Cup, having extended their undefeated streak to 14 series in the format.
Obituaries started to be written as the women’s team lost their third consecutive World Cup match, this time by mishandling a chase of 62 in ten overs. In addition to winning each of the final four games, they also needed to obtain financial and emotional support for the game in India. Chasing 339 against Australia in the semi-final and then defending 298 against South Africa in the final, they accomplished just that on two incredible evenings in Navi Mumbai (yep, no major venue was spared for the home World Cup).
The most difficult task in men’s cricket for almost ten years was travelling to India for Test matches. A damp surface in Bengaluru and two tosses won on questionable pitches contributed to New Zealand’s stunning victory over India in 2024, which sent shockwaves across the globe. The 2025 whitewash at the hands of South Africa will have been more agonising because the visitors outperformed India in almost every area. Indian Test cricket has not been at such a low point since 2012, when current coach Gautam Gambhir was still a fixture in the Test XI.