Hello Friends,
Did you feel that 2025 was different in many ways specially for sporting world? It was indeed. If we consider cricketing world there were plenty of significant incidents that either happened for the first time or happened after a long time in 2025. Starting with India, Women in Blue won their first ever World cup title when they defeated South Africa in the final of ODI World cup back in November this year. If we talk about South African men's team they too won their first world title in the form of WTC 2025 by defeating Australia in the final. Further as an icing on the cake they went on to taste their second test series victory on Indian soil after 25 long years. In another first IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) won their maiden IPL title in 18 years. And before the year ends Englishmen could taste a test victory down under after 15 long years when they won the Boxing Day test in two days. Those were some of the major cricketing stories from 2025.
Coming to the last month of the year cricket is still dominating the sporting world with multiple series being played across the globe. The Caribbeans locked horns with New Zealand in a three match test series after their disappointing loss against India earlier this year. After an epic save in the first test they performed poorly in the remaining two and gave the kiwis their first series victory of the current WTC cycle. They also lost the ODI series to the kiwis prior to the tests. After loosing the test series Men in Blue bounced back nicely in ODIs & T20Is to emerge victorious against the Proteas. Australia's convincing Ashes glory on home soil was one of the top headlines of the month though the pitch used for the Boxing Day test attracted several criticisms.
Men in Blue also grabbed some eyeballs post Shubman Gill's surprise exclusion from the T20I World cup squad. It was a real shock considering he was recalled to the T20 side earlier this year as the designated vice captain & tipped as the future captain in the format too. In another world Women in Blue started their preparation for next year's T20I World cup by winning a series against Sri Lanka. After winning their maiden World cup they are now firmly focused on T20I World cup scheduled for June 2026. A new edition of WPL starting next month will provide them the much needed opportunity to fine tune their skills before the mega event.
Mini auction of IPL 2026 was also in news specially for the Indian youngsters drawing big money. In the world of franchise cricket BBL, ILT20, SA20 & BPL kept entertaining cricket lovers. Last edition of Sports Talk Of The Month for 2025 will feature three top stories that deserve a mention.
Shattered Dream Of The Ashes
Cricketing rivalry between Australia & England is known to one & all. That's why the Ashes always creates such a huge buzz not only among the fans of these two nations but across the globe. The rivalry returned to the Aussie soil this year and with sheer dominance the home team retained the urn within 11 days of cricket. This series was expected to be a cliffhanger considering the way last Ashes panned out back in England. But surprisingly the Englishmen kind of surrendered without much of a fight in the first three test matches. More than the defeats what was more baffling for the English fans was the manner in which their team performed in those matches.
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| McCullum & Stokes are the chief architects of change in English cricket |
England's modern day version of test cricket, famously termed as Bazball has brought them both applause & criticism in last couple of years. But their performance in the current series is bound to call for detailed introspection specially from some of the individuals in the team. As a team they failed to grab big moments in a big series like the Ashes. And this is not the first time. In past too they have got carried away with their ultra aggressive style of batting and let the opposition take control of the match.
There is nothing wrong in adopting a style that can win you test matches. Five day fixtures bringing results instead of a boring draw is a good news for test cricket. But Stokes-McCullum duo also needs to remember that their team has to respect the conditions as well as the opposition in order to increase their chances of winning. There have been several instances of their batters throwing away their wickets without realising the game situation. They got to be lot more smarter in terms of their approach since test cricket can't be mastered by just playing with one dimensional approach.
I am sure all the stakeholders of English cricket will sit together post series and try to chalk out the way forward for this English side. Whether there will be drastic changes as happened in past after a series loss down under or strategic shifts time only will tell. But one thing which is quite evident in the words of their dynamic captain-coach duo that their style of play won't change much. Whether the duo gets another opportunity to take this team forward or not will be an important decision towards deciding the future of England's test team.
The Gill Dilemma
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| Gill representing KKR in IPL Image Credit: CRICKETNEXT, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons |
Biggest story surrounding Indian cricket this month was the exclusion of Shubman Gill from the T20I World cup squad. Mixed emotions were expressed from fans & cricket pundits but there was a sense of surprise among most considering he was recalled to the T20I team few months back with an eye on the future. Despite his numbers in the shortest format not being that great he was appointed as the vice captain. His returns were not that impressive in the series against Australia & South Africa. Specially when you have a swashbuckling opener like Abhishek Sharma at the other end who goes with all guns blazing from ball one, someone like Gill who is not a basher bound to look less attractive. But the question here for the selectors & team management is why they had to take that risk of breaking a successful partnership of Abhishek-Samson at the top and include someone like Gill who is not as explosive as the former ones.
Secondly if you included someone as the vice captain with an eye on the future then he should be given a long run specially in high pressure tournaments like World cup to test his temperament. He has already been marked as the poster boy of next generation who will take Indian cricket to newer heights. Media is bound to go crazy on the news of exclusion of such a figure. Strange things happen in Indian cricket & this is another addition to that list. From a player's perspective Gill should take this omission as a challenge and improve his game accordingly. He is still the captain in tests & ODIs. Hence he should stay grounded and focus on growing both as a batter and leader. Further opportunities should follow accordingly.
The Caribbean Saviour
The headlines were not just created by Australia, England or Indian team this month. A not so famous name Justin Greaves playing for the West Indies against New Zealand became only the seventh player in the history of test cricket to score a double hundred in the fourth innings of a match. By scoring an unbeaten 202 while facing 388 deliveries he not only registered his first double ton & highest score in tests but also avoided an inevitable loss for his team. He is not a big name in any form of cricket so far but his heroics definitely raised big hopes for his team which is battling for survival in the longest format of the game for a while now.
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| Justin Greaves playing in an ODI Image Credit: TheInnocentBystander, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons |
While playing this marathon innings he stitched two important partnerships of 196 & unbeaten 180 runs with Shai Hope and Kemar Roach respectively. While chasing a daunting target of 531 to win the test match the Caribbeans reached a record 457/6 courtesy Greaves' marathon innings that stayed over 10 hours. In the era of T20 cricket where even test matches are being played with a mindset of shorter formats he showcased the almost forgotten skill of saving a test match. Such a commendable effort. His team might have lost the next two test matches along with the series but no doubt that his determination throughout that innings will definitely give a new lease of life to the West Indies cricket.
A team which is almost struggling to get back its identity & stature that it held for a longer period in the past should get benefited from such an individual brilliance. Infact they need such individual performances from their next generation players specially in longest format of the game to recreate that magic they did in 70s & 80s. Performances like these may not be spoken much or broken the internet but they are very much capable of awakening the spirit of a struggling team. Hopefully the West Indies cricket witnesses many more Greaves like heroics in near future that can continue igniting their cricketing aspirations.
That's all for this year. We'll be back with fresh sporting actions in the new year. Wish you all a happy 2026 in advance.
Image Credit:
McCullum- New Zealand Government, Office of the Governor-General, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Stokes- Dave Morton, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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