The good and the less good

You know it has been a strange old year when India's Test team shows more sense of direction and focus than their limited-overs sides do. This year had all the makings of chaos, given the last act of 2014 was MS Dhoni's shock retirement from Test cricket. To add to it, India were almost certainly not going to renew coach Duncan Fletcher's contract. As it turned out, they couldn't find a new coach and just kept extending Ravi Shastri and his team's contracts on a series-by-series basis almost.

Amid all this uncertainty, and the administrative upheaval to add to it, it might have been easy for the team to implode on the field. The Test side, though, showed it was too motivated to be distracted by what was happening around it. The new captain, Virat Kohli, brought a renewed focus to the bowling. R Ashwin bowled as well as he has ever done. India won five of their six Tests that lasted long enough to produce a result. Two of those came in Sri Lanka after India had fallen behind in the series.

The batsmen were given extra responsibility as India persisted with five bowlers, the captain made the bowlers feel wanted, the results were excellent, but too much relied on Ashwin in helpful conditions. Almost every mistake made by Kohli was covered up by Ashwin, giving the captain a cushioned landing in a high-pressure job. Ashwin won't always be able to do so.

The Test team's success came with qualifiers, but it was a much better showing than the performances of the ODI and T20 side after the first quarter. India made a habit of turning up for the bigger tournaments, so it was no surprise that they turned around a three-month winless tour of Australia with a winning streak in the World Cup that ended in the semi-final. For a side that had perhaps run its course, though, it was going to be difficult to carry that momentum forward. They lost the ODIs in Bangladesh, and both home limited-overs series to South Africa. Injuries to Ravindra Jadeja, Ashwin and Mohammed Shami didn't help; Suresh Raina lost form again; and perhaps for the first time in his career Dhoni had to fend questions about his place in the side.

After having stayed ahead of or with the limited-overs game for a decade, India fell behind the curve. Of all things, they were now missing big hitters who could provide impetus to the efforts of the more solid and established batsmen. So much so that even Yuvraj Singh was given another shout. A fascinating year lies ahead.

High point
After 78 winless days over the Tests and the tri-series in Australia, India took 70 of the 70 wickets on offer in their first seven World Cup games. The batsmen all put their hands up, the bowlers were impregnable as a team, and the fielding was top notch. On every big day they let the opposition work itself into a frenzy, and calmly sailed through themselves. The bowling team of Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Ashwin and Jadeja was a joy to watch. A pity that their bad day happened to arrive in the semi-final.

Low point
In the ODI series against Bangladesh, India came unstuck against the fast cutters of left-arm pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman. Bangladesh have come far as an ODI side, especially at home, but it is still no disrespect to them that India are expected to win two times out of three. This time, though, India just couldn't stall the Bangladesh momentum, and Dhoni's frustration boiled over as he lashed out at the quick bowlers, who hadn't exactly covered themselves in glory.

New kids on the block
In a year where India hardly tinkered with their players - the Test batsmen were solid and the bowlers were rotated - they spent their first full year under an exclusively Indian coaching staff for the first time since they hired John Wright at the turn of the century. B Arun (bowling), Sanjay Bangar (batting) and R Sridhar (fielding) gathered positive reviews, and bombastic team director Ravi Shastri didn't let them run low on positivity.

What 2016 holds
This is going to be a fascinating year from the point of view of both Dhoni and Kohli. Dhoni is under pressure, he has spent time away from the international grind, has come back a leaner man, and has been given the confidence to lead India into the home World T20. If he can't turn it around, time might run out for him. For Kohli the captain, the soft launch will continue as India won't leave their shores to play Test cricket. One of New Zealand, England and Australia, though, could mount a prickly challenge, which is when his captaincy will really be tested.