"Just that one bad day, which sadly happened to be the finals of the World Cup" - Sunil Gavaskar says 2023 was a 'fantastic' year for Indian cricket
Sunil Gavaskar reckons 2023 was a fabulous year for Indian cricket. He highlighted the women's team's successive Test wins against England and Australia and the men's team's all-conquering run until the final of the ODI World Cup.
The Women in Blue suffered a narrow five-run defeat to Australia in the semifinals of the T20 World Cup. However, they bounced back to win the gold medal in the Asian Games before registering back-to-back facile Test wins against England and Australia at home.
The Men in Blue won the Asia Cup and the Asian Games gold medal. However, they couldn't end their more than 10-year-long wait for an ICC trophy, as they lost to Australia in both the World Test Championship and ODI World Cup finals.
On the Star Sports show 'Follow the Blues', Gavaskar shared his thoughts on the Indian cricket teams' performances in 2023:
"I think it's been a fantastic year for both the men's and the women's team, particularly the way the women's team has performed.
"Those two Test wins towards the year-end, one against England and one against Australia, both teams against whom the Indian women's team have had tough times earlier on."
The former India captain added:
"That's been the most exciting aspect of cricket apart from, of course, what we saw in the World Cup. The 10 straight wins, and, then, just that one bad day, which sadly happened to be the finals of the World Cup. So really some exciting times in 2023."
Gavaskar noted that the Indian women's team broke a barrier by beating formidable England and Australia in Test matches. He added that the twin wins raise expectations of Harmanpreet Kaur and Co. beating their two nemeses more consistently.
"It was one of the best years of Indian cricket" - Irfan Pathan
Irfan Pathan termed 2023 as an amazing year for Indian cricket:
"I think it was an amazing year, the way they won matches. In ODIs, they had the highest win percentage in Indian cricket history. I think it was one of the best years of Indian cricket."
While acknowledging that the Men in Blue's World Cup drought continued, the former India all-rounder picked Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill as some of the positives last year:
"The World Cup victory again remained slightly away from us but overall there were a lot of positives. We saw Virat Kohli's form, which we were used to for so many years, and Shubman Gill had an amazing year."
Pathan highlighted that India weren't even considered contenders for the World Cup before the Asia Cup. He added that the scenario changed for the positive as soon as the continental event started.