A team is made up of 15 players in the squad, the coaches and everyone from the management. The reason a team is hailed as the strongest or the most motivated unit is due to some flamboyant performances by its members.
At this moment, the Indian Men’s cricket team lead the test rankings, are placed second on the ODI charts and are boast the 5th best T20 team according to the ICC T20 rankings. Maintaining scores and a win percentage is not so easy, it requires dedication and hard work from each player. This Indian side has all the qualities to be declared as the best side in the current scenario. The former English skipper Micheal Vaughan also admitted that only Virat’s team has the caliber to beat a strong Australian side on their pitches.
Following is a list of top performances by Indian cricketers in 2019
1) Rohit Sharma’s World Cup heroics:
The Mumbai opener lit the World Cup by amassing 648 runs in 9 matches, including 5 centuries and one fifty. He is now the joint record holder with Sachin Tendulkar as both of them have scored 6 centuries in the World Cup history, the most by any batsman. “All credit to him because he has worked hard and for any batsman to get five hundred (in the World Cup) is very special,” Bangar, India’s batting coach (now former)said.
If one has to pick one innings from all these centuries in the 2019 World Cup, it would surely be his 140 run knock against Pakistan.
2) Mayank Agarwal’s double hundred:
The 28-year-old didn’t waste any opportunity and slammed a brilliant 243 run knock against Bangladesh at the Holkar Stadium, Indore. This double century placed Mayank Agarwal in the record books as he was declared the second-fastest batsman to register two 200+ scores as per innings (12 innings).
Mayank dominated the entire test match and helped India win by an innings margin. His persistence and consistent scoring are the highlights of this knock.
3) Ravindra Jadeja’s World Cup semi-finals show:
Ravindra Jadeja made a comeback to limited-overs cricket in 2018. Jadeja’s escalating contributions led to his selection in India’s World Cup squad. There were a lot many speculations on his capability as a limited-overs player but Ravindra Jadeja shunned all critics when he scored an extraordinary 77 in the World Cup semi-finals against New Zealand when the entire top order has failed miserably. India lost the match but it will better be remembered as once in a lifetime innings by Jadeja.
4) Yuzvendra Chahal’s 6 wickets versus Australia:
The leg spinner had replaced his spin twin, Kuldeep Yadav in this match against Australia in Melbourne. The decision of letting Chahal play caused sheer demolition of the Australian lineup when the leg spinner ended with stupendous figures of 6-42. Eventually, Chahal equaled Indian great Ajit Agarkar’s record for the best ODI figures by an Indian bowler in Australia.
The way Yuzvendra confused and set up the batsmen by spinning the ball on both sides was a sight to watch. The best of his wickets was when he found Handscomb on 58 before wicket.
5) Hardik Pandya’s 91 against Kolkata Knight Riders:
“He got 91 from 34 balls against KKR, probably that is the best innings I have seen in the IPL just because he hit four quality bowlers he was batting against,” as Indian veteran Yuvraj Singh went on describing the 26-year-old’s beautiful knock in the Indian Premier League. The Mumbai Indians lost the match by 34 runs but Hardik’s efforts were surely appreciated by anyone watching the great display of his power hitting.
Mumbai Indians went on to win the title for the 4th time and no one can deny how significant Pandya’s all-round contribution was.
Special mention –
a) Virat Kohli’s 254* against South Africa
b) Ishant Sharma’s fifer with the pink ball against Bangladesh.
