When the women lost their third straight World Cup match, this time fumbling a chase of 62 in ten overs, obituaries began to be prepared in earnest. They needed to win each of the remaining four matches not only for themselves but to secure emotional and financial investment for the game in India. They did just that on two magical nights in Navi Mumbai – yes, no big venue was spared for the home World Cup – chasing 339 against Australia in the semi-final and then defending 298 against South Africa in the final.
For more than a decade, visiting India for Tests was the most daunting assignment in men’s cricket. When New Zealand sent shock waves around the world by whitewashing India in India in 2024, it was seen as a freak result, facilitated by a wet surface in Bengaluru and two tosses won on dodgy pitches. The whitewash at the hands of South Africa in 2025 will have been more painful: the visitors outplayed India in pretty much every department. Not since 2012, when current coach Gautam Gambhir was still a regular in the Test XI, has Indian Test cricket been at such a low ebb.
Instead, Conrad can still bask in the glory of masterminding South Africa’s Test fortunes, which has come as part of a larger resurgence. There’s administrative and financial stability, a growing player pool and clear priorities as Enoch Nkwe, the head of national teams and high performance, continues to plan well. A bloated domestic system remains a concern, especially as fixtures dwindle, but the SA20 papers over some cracks, which may only get exposed post the home ODI World Cup in 2027.
High point
Lord’s on June 14. South Africa successfully chased 282 to win the World Test Championship and wash more than three decades of what-ifs away. Given how underrated South Africa were after playing neither England nor Australia in the cycle (and only facing India at home) and that the side had only one genuine superstar in Kagiso Rabada, their victory underlined that this South African side is more than the sum of their parts, and has raised hopes more trophies can be won in the years to come.
Low point
With a T20 World Cup less than two months away, South Africa’s form in the format could be a concern, but given that they are often without a first-choice team in bilateral series, they don’t seem too worried. Instead, the disappointment was felt more among fans who were not able to see their champion Test side play at home, with no local Tests scheduled on the FTP (as agreed in 2022) this summer.
Just fine. That’s probably how Pakistan’s on-field year could best be described. For the amount of cricket they played through the year – 56 matches all told – there is little to remember 2025 by way of iconic moments. Pakistan split their games almost right down the middle, winning 30 and losing 26, beating the teams they were expected to, and losing periodically against ostensibly lesser opponents to remind them where they stood.
High point
Pakistan’s very participation in the Women’s ODI World Cup was in doubt given the strength of the sides vying to qualify. The Qualifiers, held in Lahore, included West Indies, Bangladesh, and Ireland, and yet, Pakistan made a mockery of the competition. Ireland and Scotland were dispatched with ease, before frequent tormentors West Indies were crushed by 65 runs, providing a statement of intent. Pakistan would win all five games, which, at the time anyway, built up real excitement for the main tournament.
Having built up momentum at the tail end of 2024 in ODI cricket with away series wins in Australia and South Africa, Pakistan’s men’s side went into the Champions Trophy – the first ICC event they hosted since 1996 – with guarded optimism. However, it would become a failure that more or less defined their year. A heavy opening-day loss to New Zealand in Karachi was a chastening reality check, before India swept them aside in Dubai. By the time their game against Bangladesh in Pindi was rained off, Pakistan had already been eliminated from their own tournament.
by Andrew Fidel Fernando
Towards the end of the year, the men’s team slid again towards mediocrity. This had been the outfit that most threatened to break Sri Lanka free from a ten-year funk in which they have made zero global trophy finals, even if they have had better luck at the Asia Cup.
The T20I team’s woes are placing pressure on the captain Charith Asalanka, with the selectors now having floated the idea of replacing him less than two months out from a home World Cup. Where for much of 2024 the limited-overs teams showed signs of resurgence, poor results towards the end of 2025 saw them return to all-too-familiar dysfunction.
Despite the poor results, there was evidence of some development, particularly in the top- and middle-order batting. The likes of Harshitha Samarawickrama and Kavisha Dilhari continued to grow, with Nilakshika de Silva and Hasini Perera also finding some form later in the year.
Pathum Nissanka might be Sri Lanka men’s first batting talent of the modern age, with hundreds across all three formats in 2025. In Tests, his batting has become brisk, but he still put up mammoth scores, making 187 and 158 against Bangladesh. Possibly his best century came against India at the T20 Asia Cup. He had to battle injury as well as India’s attack to hit 107 off 58 balls.
The men’s ODI whitewash in Pakistan in November felt like the moment the team began to crack. By the end of the tour, changes to leadership, selection and coaching were all being whispered about.
It was another deeply frustrating year for Irish cricket, with a glut of losses on the field, and a significant departure off it. Nothing epitomised their woes more acutely than the washout in Malahide that ruined the men’s late-summer showpiece: a sold-out Friday T20I against England, towards which their entire season had been geared, and for which a cash-strapped board had pushed out the hospitality boat, at a venue where the erection of temporary facilities has so often proven to be prohibitive.
Beating Bangladesh on home soil is no mean feat. The Tector brothers were instrumental in an above-par total of 181 for 4 in Chattogram – Harry with five sixes in an unbeaten 45-ball 69; younger brother Tim with 32 from 19 at the top of the order – before left-arm spinner Matthew Humphreys held his nerve in dewy conditions with a superb return of 4 for 13.
Low point
The washout against England was an especially bleak moment in a series that never felt anything less than an afterthought. The sold-out signs on the ticket booths were a testament to the latent interest in the contest. But the constraints of the schedule left a marquee moment on the fringes of the European summer.
Four firsts: Nepal’s first series win against a Full Member, beating West Indies 2-1 in T20Is; Namibia beating neighbours South Africa for the first time, with Ruben Trumpelmann taking them over the line in a last-ball thriller; UAE winning a T20I series against Bangladesh; and Italy qualifying for their maiden T20 World Cup, ahead of Jersey, Scotland and Guernsey.
Low point
The ICC suspended USA Cricket due to governance failures and “repeated and continued breaches” of its obligations as an ICC member, and the board subsequent filed for bankruptcy.
