Rewind 2023: Looking back at cricket's highs and lows this year through numbers

The year 2023 is set to end in a couple of days’ time. From the perspective of Test cricket, however, the year’s already come to end with the Boxing Day fixtures in Centurion and Melbourne ending on Thursday and Friday respectively.

In both cases, it was the home team coming out on top, with South Africa thrashing India by an innings and 32 runs at the SuperSport Park and Australia pulling off a series-clinching 79-run win over Pakistan at the ‘G’ the following day.

Read | India dominates cricket in 2023, only to miss out on ICC trophies yet again

There are still a couple of important fixtures to be played out over the next two days. The India women’s cricket team taking on Australia in the second of three ODIs in Mumbai on Saturday, hoping to bounce back after suffering a six-wicket loss on Wednesday. That will be followed by New Zealand hosting Bangladesh in the third T20I on Sunday, the final day of the year, hoping to pull off a series-leveling win.

Before we prepare for celebrations on New Year’s Eve, we take a look at how the year panned out for the Indian men’s and women’s cricket teams by through numbers:

0 — the number of ICC titles that India finished with across men’s and women’s cricket despite reaching the business end of three different tournaments. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led Women in Blue would bow out of the T20 World Cup in the semi-finals while Rohit Sharma would lead India to runner-up finishes in the World Test Championship and the World Cup. Incidentally, it was Australia that landed the knockout punch on India on all three occasions.

1 — The number of times India have beaten Australia in women’s Tests, with the Harmanpreet-led side finally ending the winless drought with a commanding eight-wicket victory in Mumbai earlier this week. It was their first Test win against Australia in 11 attempts since they first locked horns in 1977.

3 — The number of major titles won by Australia, by far the most successful team in both men’s and women’s cricket. Meg Lanning would help Australia successfully defend their T20 world title by defeating hosts South Africa in the final, while Pat Cummins would help the men’s team win their maiden World Test Championship and their sixth ODI world title. The Aussies would also end up retaining both the Men’s and Women’s Ashes in England.

3.857 — India’s Win/Loss Ratio in Men’s ODIs this year, the best among all teams in 2023 including Associate Nations. The Men in Blue finished miles ahead of the other Full Member nations, with South Africa (1.777) and world champions Australia (1.750) sitting at the second and third spots in this list.

8 — The number of Asia Cup titles that India now have in both ODIs and T20Is after thrashing Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in the final in Colombo on 17 September. It was the Men in Blue’s seventh victory in the ODI format, with the team having won the inaugural T20I edition in 2016.

10 — the number of matches India won in a row in the ICC World Cup under Rohit’s leadership, breaking the record for most wins by an Indian team in a single edition of the ICC World Cup.

50 — Sri Lanka’s total against India in the final of the Asia Cup, which happens to be the lowest total in ODIs in 2023. That wasn’t the only time the Lankans were bullied by the Indian bowlers — they had been bundled out for 73 in Thiruvananthapuram in January and 55 in the World Cup fixture in Mumbai.

314 — Nepal’s score after they opted to bat against Mongolia in the Hangzhou Asian Games in September, breaking the record for the highest total in T20I history. That wasn’t all though; they would bowl Mongolia out for a mere 41 to register a 273-run victory — the biggest in the format.

317 — The margin of defeat for Sri Lanka after they were bundled out for 73 in Thiruvananthapuram after they were set a daunting 391 to win, which is now the biggest margin of defeat by runs in ODI history.

347 — The margin of defeat for England in the one-off Test against India in Navi Mumbai — the biggest in the history of women’s cricket. India bowled the Heather Knight-led side out for a paltry 131 after setting them 478 to win. It was only the second instance of a team winning by 300-plus runs in women’s Tests.

428 — South Africa’s score against Sri Lanka in their World Cup meeting in Delhi, which not only happens to be the highest ODI total this year but also the highest in ICC World Cup history.

765 — Virat Kohli’s run tally at the end of the World Cup, breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most runs in a single edition of the World Cup.

2,048 — Kohli’s run tally at the end of 2023, making him the first batter to score 2000-plus runs across format in seven different years. The batting superstar, however, did not finish the top run-getter this year — that honour went to Shubman Gill (2,154).