STARS OF THE YEAR

India’s impressive run in 2019 wasn’t merely a batting story Their pacers stood out as much as the batsmen, familiar faces and a newcomer A look at how the super six among them performed

VIRAT KOHLI

Rohit Sharma provides the bang but as he showed in

Cuttack, Kohli remains the mastermind when it comes to acing tough chases He averages 5986 in 26 ODIS this year but it goes up to 6358 in chases The highest scorer across formats for the fourth year in a row, his ambition to win every match is scaling new heights As Test skipper, he finally led India to a series win in Australia before pummelling West Indies, South Africa and Bangladesh A World Cup win could have been the icing on the cake;nevertheless it has been a terrific year for Kohli

ROHIT SHARMA

Many opening acts from Virender

Sehwag and

Sachin Tendulkar are timeless classics but Rohit Sharma is proving to be special This is the year when he overtook Sanath Jayasuriya and Sehwag as the batsman to score most runs in all formats as an opener in a calendar year Five centuries helped finish as the highest scorer in the World Cup but the turning point came when he was handed the Test opener’s slot in the South Africa series after years of struggle Two centuries in Vizag and a massive 212 in Ranchi later, expectations are bound to increase

MAYANK AGARWAL

Years of toil in domestic cricket were finally rewarded with a sudden Test call-up and the

Karnataka opener grabbed the chance with both hands, never letting go of it Three fifties, in Melbourne, Sydney and Kingston kept him in the mix till two double centuries, versus South Africa and Bangladesh at home, pitchforked him into the limelight This year, he has scored 872 runs in nine Tests, averaging 67 with three centuries He was also drafted in place of the injured Shikhar Dhawan during the West Indies ODIS Among several gains this year, a stable opener is one of the biggest for India

RAVINDRA JADEJA

He wasn’t a regular in ODIS but combination dilemmas in the World Cup demanded he be played against Sri Lanka and then New Zealand in the semi-final With the chips down in the semis, he nearly pulled off a spectacular chase with 77 off 59 balls It came right after commentator Sanjay Manjrekar had dubbed him a “bits and pieces” player A livewire in the field and a handy spinner, he needed a few more innings to rest his case Test fifties in Pune, Ranchi and Indore, and the series-winning 39* in Cuttack may have done just that

MOHAMMAD SHAMI

He has taken 77 wickets in 30 matches across all formats, 21 of them in

ODIS, the highest since his debut in 2013 And when you consider he has done this after recuperating from several knee operations over the years, Shami’s fitness needs to be applauded It hasn’t been easy for him, dropped from the BCCI central contracts roster in 2018 over allegations of domestic abuse by his wife, Shami’s comeback was laboured But he shed weight, built stamina, developed a mean bouncer and took the World Cup by storm with a hat-trick against Afghanistan

JASPRIT BUMRAH

He has missed four months of action due to a stress fracture of the back but is still set to end the year as the No 1

ODI bowler Talk about improvement In two years, Bumrah has matured into the most complete match-winning fast bowler India have had in a long time His nine-wicket haul in the 2018 Boxing Day Test at the MCG was the reason India won it and took a decisive 2-1 lead in the four-match series Five-wicket hauls in Antigua and Kingston came but Bumrah’s time came in the World Cup where he took 18 wickets in nine matches