5 Indian cricketers who flopped in 2022
Team India's 2022 didn't go to plan as they failed to clinch a trophy in multi-nation tournaments and suffered painful defeats in various bilateral assignments as well.
Although players like Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, and Mohammed Siraj stepped up for the Men in Blue in the calendar year, several experienced professionals were nowhere near their best. These names will need to get back to their best at the earliest; in fact, for some of them, it might already be too late.
Here are five Indian players who flopped in 2022.
#5 Yuzvendra Chahal
It might seem ludicrous to claim that India's leading wicket-taker across formats in 2022 flopped, but Yuzvendra Chahal's performances were far from convincing.
In 21 T20Is, Chahal picked up 23 wickets at an economy rate of 7.71. While those may seem like decent numbers, he failed to have the impact expected of the primary wrist-spinner, often appearing incapable of providing breakthroughs.
The leg-spinner played 14 matches and returned 21 wickets in ODIs, but his economy rate of 5.48 was one of the worst among Team India bowlers. He couldn't keep a check on the run-scoring in the middle overs, and it was a miracle that the Men in Blue didn't give either Ravi Bishnoi or Kuldeep Yadav more chances.
#4 Shikhar Dhawan
Shikhar Dhawan played only one format for Team India in 2022 - ODIs. He even captained the side in a few series when first-choice players weren't available.
Unfortunately, though, Dhawan endured his worst calendar year in a long time. He scored 688 runs at an average of 34.4 and a strike rate of 74.21, looking out of place in a batting lineup filled with younger talent. The southpaw recorded only six fifties and no hundreds in 22 innings.
Dhawan has since been dropped from the ODI squad and might find it difficult to stage a comeback ahead of the 2023 50-over World Cup.
#3 Rohit Sharma
The loss of form and lack of fitness plagued Rohit Sharma throughout 2022. He played only two Tests, both against Sri Lanka at home, and missed multiple crucial overseas assignments.
Rohit's T20I form wasn't great either. He averaged a poor 24.29 at a middling strike rate of 134.42 and notched up just three fifties, with as many as three ducks to his name. More importantly, under his admittedly poor captaincy, India crashed out of the Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup.
ODIs treated Rohit comparatively more kindly, but he wasn't anywhere near his best. He breached the 50-run mark only three times and didn't record any three-figure scores.
#2 KL Rahul
The No. 5 position in ODIs seemed to get the best out of KL Rahul at the start of the year as he carried on from where he left off in 2021. But the batter ended 2022 with only 251 runs at an average of 27.88 and a strike rate of 80.19 in the 50-over format, with two fifties to his name.
Rahul wasn't great in Tests and T20Is either. In the shortest format, he averaged 28.93 at a strike rate of 126.53 in 16 matches and came a cropper when India needed him the most. Against the red ball, the opener averaged 17.12 in four matches.
Rahul captained Team India in a few matches, racking up a few wins towards the end of the year. But on the whole, he was a huge disappointment in 2022.
#1 Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli had his moments in 2022. He played a stupendous knock against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup, shortly after breaking his T20I century drought against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup. The star batter also notched up an ODI ton against Bangladesh and essayed a delectable 79 in a Test in South Africa.
Outside the T20I format, though, Kohli was a massive letdown. He ended up with an average of 26.5 and a miserable strike rate of 39.43 over the course of six Tests.
In ODIs, the 34-year-old managed 302 runs at an average of 27.45 and a strike rate of 87.03, numbers that would've been significantly worse without his recent hundred.