Kohli's run scoring prowess, potent pace attack, Yadav-Chahal's spin magic headline India's stellar season

India ended the year as the Number One Test side, just as the way they had begun at the very top

The Indian team set sail for overseas territories after a stellar 2017 which saw them reach the very pinnacle of the ICC Test rankings. After a spree of bilateral Test series wins on home soil, Kohli and company embarked upon tough tours of South Africa and England. The Indians ended up on the losing side in some close battles; nevertheless, they had quite a few winning moments to cherish. The subcontinent giants registered some well-crafted wins in Johannesburg, Nottingham, Adelaide and Melbourne, proving the fact that they were no longer Lions just at home. The Indians beat Windies comprehensively in the home series to register a record 10th consecutive Test series win at home, equaling a herculean feat set by Australia.

There were some narrow losses at Cape Town (lost by 72 runs), Birmingham (lost by 31 runs) and Southampton (lost by 60 runs) all could have had a different story. The Indian team scripted history by winning their first ever opening Test against Australia in Adelaide. Going into the final Test at Sydney, the Indian team have taken an unassailable 2-1 series lead winning the Melbourne Test and are set to at least retain the Border Gavaskar Trophy. For the record, India played 14 Tests in 2018, winning 7 out of them. So in a nutshell, it could be termed as a mixed season in red ball cricket for them.

In 2018, Indian bowlers claimed 257 Test wickets, the highest ever for the national team in a calendar year. With 48 wickets in his debut year in Test cricket, in nine matches and all away from home, Jasprit Bumrah became the highest wicket-taker among fast bowlers in their maiden Test season. Ishant Sharma and Mohammad Shami played the perfect foil to Bumrah picking up wickets with regular consistency both at home and away.

The biggest positive for Indian cricket has been the emergence of a well-rounded seam attack. The present Indian pace attack is right up there among the best in the world, having an ideal blend of seamers and swing bowlers. While Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and  Mohammad Shami have been menacing with their swing, Umesh Yadav can run through the defences of the best batsman with his tearaway pace. With Khaleel Ahmed coming in as a promising left-arm seamer, the attack gets even more lethal. Jasprit Bumrah has been a revelation in Test cricket. After his stellar exploits with the ball in ODI cricket, Bumrah has been right on the money in the longer format of the game. Bumrah ended the year as the highest wicket-taker across formats scalping 78 wickets in the calendar year.

Spin twins Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal did not let the absence of Ravichandran Ashwin be felt in ODIs. While the ace Tamil Nadu off spinner plies his trait with mastery and craft in red-ball cricket, the Yadav-Chahal duo cast a web around the best batting lineups in the world in limited overs cricket. Meanwhile, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja continues to be an integral part of India's spin bowling armoury in all forms of the game.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli once again led the batting efforts from the front, scoring a plethora of runs in all forms of the game. The prolific run-scorer became the fourth Indian batsman to reach the herculean 10000-run mark in ODI cricket. He also became the fastest batsman to get to the landmark. With 2,735 runs in 37 international matches, Kohli smashed 11 hundreds in 2018, six in ODIs and five in Tests.

India were by far the most dominant team in ODI cricket in 2018. They rounded off a brilliant year by winning 14 of their 18 matches. The highlight of their ODI campaign was a clinical 5-1 drubbing of South Africa in their backyard and lifting the Asia Cup title defeating Bangladesh in the finals. The Indians also secured a comprehensive win against a struggling Windies in the bilateral ODI series at home.

Kuldeep Yadav was definitely the find of the year, courtesy his match-winning spells for 'Men in Blue', in both ODIs and T20. Yadav became the second fastest Indian to take 50 ODI wickets, reaching the milestone in just 24 matches.

Rohit Sharma once again showed his leadership skills in the absence of Virat Kohli. The free-flowing stroke player spearheaded the Indian side to in the Asia Cup displaying his calm and cool temperament. Rohit  Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan were in terrific form and the opening duo brought their best to the fore in the clash against arch-rivals Pakistan.

There were youngsters who made their debut in red-ball cricket and showed they belonged to the highest level. Rishabh Pant became India's first-choice man behind the stumps while Mayank Agarwal brought some respite to the team's long ending opening woes in Test cricket by scoring a well compiled fifty on debut at Melbourne. 

The likes Prithvi Shaw, Khaleel Ahmed, Hanuma Vihari, Mayank Agarwal, Rishabh Pant (Tests and ODIs), Jasprit Bumrah (Tests) too made their first appearance for India. Some stalwarts of Indian cricket - Gautam Gambhir, Mohammad Kaif and RP Singh bid adieu to the game.