India decided to look away
Like any other year, this one too had its highs and lows, moments that captured the imagination for contrasting reasons. Here's a lowdown on what happened in the world of cricket in 2012.
At the start of the year, right after losing the Test series to Australia 0-4, India traded their whites for colours, by winning one T20 international, and losing the other to Australia. In the CB Series that followed, their torrid time overseas continued after they failed to make it to the final, which featured Sri Lanka and hosts Australia.
The Asia Cup in March wasn’t a great outing either for the Men-in-Blue, with India being pipped to the final post by Bangladesh and Pakistan. India also suffered the ignominy of losing by five wickets to hosts Bangladesh, in a match that saw Sachin Tendulkar scoring his 100th international hundred.
A solitary T20 organised between India and South Africa in Johannesburg, just before the IPL, ended with the hosts enforcing a farcical win, riding on help from the elements.
After a break, MS Dhoni’s men travelled to Sri Lanka in July for a five-match ODI series, which they won 4-1. They also won the lone T20 by 39 runs.
In September, India’s solitary loss to Australia in the 2012 World T20 hurt them badly, for their survival in the tournament came down to fulfilling a condition-restricting South Africa to 121 in their final Super 8 game, which they failed to implement. That a team could win 4/5 matches in the tournament, and still not qualify for the semi-finals, left a lot of people fuming. But some argued, that the team knew what they were getting into.
