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Team India capped off 2024 as a T20I superpower, clinching the T20 World Cup trophy and setting multiple records, including a commanding 135-run victory over South Africa in the fourth T20I.
The Men in Blue played five bilateral series this year and emerged victorious in all of them. Whether at home against Afghanistan and Bangladesh or away against Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, and South Africa, all opponents fell victim to the audacity and firepower of a youthful Indian squad. India won 24 out of 26 matches, losing only twice: once against Zimbabwe shortly after their T20 World Cup triumph with a relatively inexperienced side, and once against South Africa in this series. India concluded their T20I campaign for the year with a win percentage of 92.31, the highest ever by any team in the format, surpassing Pakistan's 89.47% in 2018 (17 wins in 19 matches). In T20s overall, only Tamil Nadu's 93.75% in 2021 (15 wins in 16 matches) has been better in a calendar year. India's crowning achievement was their T20 World Cup victory, defeating South Africa by seven runs in a thrilling final in Barbados. They remained unbeaten throughout the tournament, winning all eight matches. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, two of India's greatest T20 superstars, received a fitting farewell from the format. Rohit retired as a two-time T20 World Cup champion and India's all-time leading T20I run-scorer, with 4,231 runs in 159 matches, including five centuries and 32 fifties. In this year's World Cup, he scored 257 runs in eight matches, with three half-centuries. Kohli, despite a modest tournament, delivered a clutch performance in the final with a match-winning 75, earning the 'Player of the Match' award. He retired as the format's second-highest run-scorer, amassing 4,188 runs in 125 matches at an impressive average of 48.69, with one century and 38 fifties. India's young guns embodied the aggression and "win-at-all-costs" mentality of these legends. India hit a boundary every 4.68 balls this year, their best-ever ratio, and a six every 12.19 balls, another personal best. They scored 200-plus totals nine times, breaking the record for the most in a calendar year, previously held by Birmingham Bears (2022), India (2023), and Japan (2024) with seven each. The Men in Blue batters scored centuries almost every series this year, a stark contrast to their earlier conservative approach. With seven centuries--three by Sanju Samson, two by Tilak Varma, and one each by Rohit Sharma and Abhishek Sharma--India set a record for the most team centuries in a calendar year in T20 cricket. India's overall runs-per-over (RPO) this year stood at 9.55, their highest ever and the second-highest by a men's T20I team in a calendar year (minimum 15 matches), only behind Australia's 9.72 in 2024. Sanju Samson flourished as an opener, scoring three centuries in a calendar year, the first-ever by any player. He was India's top run-getter in T20Is this year with 436 runs in 12 innings, averaging 43.60 with a strike rate of over 180. As an opener, he tallied 461 runs in nine innings, averaging 57.62 and striking at 193.62. A historic feat was achieved when Tilak Varma and Samson scored twin centuries in the same innings, marking the first instance of such a milestone for a Test-playing nation in a T20I. India's top five batters collectively struck at 135.08 in their first 10 balls this year, the highest-ever for the team and the third-highest for any side with a minimum of 15 matches. Eleven Indian batters scored 200-plus runs this year, with eight maintaining strike rates above 150. Among them were Tilak Varma (306 runs at a strike rate of 187.73), Samson (436 runs, 180.16), and Yashasvi Jaiswal (293 runs, 172.35). Remarkably, five of these batters also averaged over 40. India's bowlers were equally dominant, bowling out their opponents 10 times in 26 matches, the joint-most for a Test-playing nation in a calendar year. Arshdeep Singh led the charge with 36 wickets in 18 matches at an average of 13.50, his haul the highest for a Test-playing nation bowler this year. Indian bowlers averaged 8.39 wickets per innings, the highest-ever among Test-playing nations in a calendar year. The Men in Blue registered three victories by margins of 100 runs or more this year, matching their tally from all previous years combined. This year also witnessed two of their top-five biggest wins in terms of balls remaining and one of only two 10-wicket victories in their T20I history. (ANI)
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