The year of living repetitively

One criticism faced by artists with a highly unique style is that their work can start appearing repetitive to the casual viewer. Their art starts looking like it is just copying what succeeded the first time, with less impressive results. After all, isn't every Wes Anderson film just a yellow-tinted tale of emotionally stunted people with odd dress sense? Isn't every Coke Studio song a formulaic reworking of the one before? Didn't Pakistan in 2015 have the same year they had in 2014?

Maybe yes, but really, no. If the sub-editor was feeling lazy they could use the same headline as for the 2014 version of this piece and get away with it. Then, as now, Pakistan were "Awesome in whites, awful in colour". Yet once you pay a little attention, you realise that the team was awesome and awful in different ways from last year.

Let's deal with the awesome first. Pakistan ended 2014 with a 4-4-2 record in Tests; the evisceration of Australia was a historic high point. This year, with surprise having given way to expectation, the team stepped up a gear, ending with the highest win percentage in the world on their way to a 5-1-2 record. Last year they were powerful and puny in turn, but this year they were consistently clinical.

England arrived with far more bite than the bluster they brought in 2012, scrapped fiercely through the three Tests, and were twice a session away from a win and a draw. Yet after a brief panic in the first match, Pakistan spent the series keeping them at arm's length, striking just when it mattered. Sri Lanka, who represented a more formidable challenge, were defeated in more exhilarating style. First, Asad Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed saved a sinking ship in Galle, and then Younis led an imperious charge in Pallekele. Through it all, Pakistan's bowling was as good as its mangoes, serving up decadent and indulgent pieces of legspin and reverse swing.

Now let's move on to the awful. Like last year, Pakistan ended up traversing the deep-sea trenches of the global ODI game, putting up a record better than only those of West Indies and Zimbabwe (among Test-playing sides). Like last year, selection inconsistencies were the biggest concern, with a constantly revolving cast on stage. But unlike last year, the selection chaos paused long enough for the team to deliver some heartening results. The squad for the World Cup avoided several perennial underperformers, and after losing with all the worst permutations of its playing XI, Pakistan found a combination good enough to give the eventual champions a scare in the knockouts. Then in Sri Lanka, they racked up three wins using only 12 players to secure a Champions Trophy spot.

But apart from that, it was all chaos and defeat. Fifteen players were chosen in four matches against England, 14 in three against Bangladesh. The results? One win and six losses. The team's fortunes often seemed linked to the performance of its captain, but this time around it was a new face in charge. Azhar Ali's side looked modern, exciting and dynamic against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, hopelessly outdated against Bangladesh and England.

A consistent thread throughout the year was how often the Test side didn't translate its form to the shorter format. Each of Wahab Riaz, Yasir Shah, Sarfraz and even Azhar couldn't find the confidence they showed in the longer game. One exception was Mohammad Hafeez, who bounced back from a bowling ban with a superlative year in both formats, finishing with the second-best Test aggregate and best ODI aggregate for the team. Shoaib Malik only played one series, but like in the limited-overs arena, he made sure he made a contribution that couldn't be ignored.

High point
Each of the formats delivered one iconic moment this year - Yasir's dive-and-slide to celebrate the Dubai win; Wahab goading Watson in front of a stunned home crowd in Adelaide; Anwar Ali clubbing wild-eyed sixes in Colombo. Yet none of those moments compared to the innocuous ball Anwar Ali bowled to Hamilton Masakadza in Lahore. After six interminable years, international cricket made a brief and joyous return to the country, and it was a moment to savour. Few hearts were left unmoved as the sound of a roaring crowd at the Gaddafi was heard once more.

Low point
As always, Pakistan have a wide variety to choose from here - yet another World Cup loss to India, a Super Over that almost went for a maiden, a whitewash at the hands of a side that hadn't beaten Pakistan in any format for 16 years. Indeed, as the year ended, the ODI side seemed to be unravelling quite rapidly.

But perhaps the lowest point came only a few days ago - the impact of which could well define the coming year. The return of the spot-fixing trio, and Mohammad Amir in particular, has reopened many wounds. The stance against Amir's return, first taken by Hafeez and now adopted by Misbah, Azhar and reportedly others, is one that can well be justified, but then again, so does the argument that the accused have served their punishment. The polarisation being caused by this situation, and the vitriol it has brought forth, also points to the considerable baggage Pakistan cricket carries regarding fixing, which has never been honestly dealt with. The low point, then, isn't the stance by the players or the controversy, but the realisation that even after all these years, Pakistan still aren't sure how to deal with fixing.

New kid on the block
It's tempting to name Shoaib Malik, who swooped in from the wilderness and ended up as captain in waiting, having reinvented himself in every way possible. In terms of actual debutants, both Mohammad Rizwan and Imad Wasim provided plenty of reasons for excitement, but perhaps the most exciting new kid on the block was one that was long overdue - the PSL. After years of stops and starts, the launch of the new league felt like a reinvigoration of the local game, as well as the first step for Pakistan evolving towards modern cricket, on and off the field.

What 2016 holds
A final chance for Misbah's Test side to prove that it wasn't just another home-conditions bully in an era of mediocre travelling Test sides. After a forfeited Test in 2006 and the spot-fixing shocks of 2010, there are plenty of reasons to be wary of the tour to England, and the one to Australia feels just as forbidding. Any decent results in those countries would provide some clear answers on the legacy of Misbah and his Test side. The coming year also offers the umpteenth chance of a swanswong for Shahid Afridi, who will lead a stuttering T20 side to the World T20 in India - almost too perfect a script to work with.