Year 2014 in Cricket: The ups, downs, wins, losses and much more

The Chennai Super Kings added to their massive trophy cabinet another Champions League T20 cup. A Suresh Raina blitzkrieg and some wiley bowling from Pawan Negi helped them beat arch rivals Kolkata Knight Riders by 8 wickets. (Source: BCCI)

South Africa's Test captain Graeme Smith hung up his gloves. He was South Africa's youngest Test captain and the longest serving Test captain in the history of the game. He scored 9262 Test runs at an average of 48.49. (Source: AP)

India's England sojourn was missing some spice and the altercation between Ravindra Jadeja and James Anderson provided just that. (Source: AP)

The Kolkata Knight Riders wrapped up a good IPL season by holding their nerve to beat the Kings XI Punjab in the IPL final. It was their second IPL win in 2 years. (Source: BCCI)

After the famous Natwest ODI series win India hadn't won any match at the home of cricket and an some inspired captaincy from MS Dhoni and fiery bowling from Ishant he helped India get one back in the otherwise one-sided rubber in England.

Minnows Netherlands stunned former Champions England in the World Cup T20 tournament. The Dutch who made 133, defended their score fantastically and bowled out the English for a paltry 88 to win the match by 45 runs. (Source: AP)

Misbah Ul Haq's fastest Test Fifty and joint fastest 100. The usually subtle and slow paced batsman showed another side of his game by smashing his 50 off 21 balls and getting his 100 off just 56 deliveries. Some batting from the 40 year old. (Source: Reuters)

Gritty and brave 161 by Michael Clarke at Cape Town against South Africa. The fact that he was hit by a Morne Morkel bouncer that broke his shoulder, despite which he batted on makes this even more special. (Source: AP)

Finally an ICC cup. Sri Lanka has the nasty reputation of losing ICC tournament finals but this time at the Shere Bangla stadium in Mirpur the Lankan lions over came the final jinx to beat MS Dhoni's India to lift the T20 World Cup. (Source: Reuters)

Baz Baz Baz.. That's how Brendon McCullum has been firing in Test matches in 2014, he scorched two double tonnes and one triple against India. He also became the first Kiwi cricketer to score 1000 runs in Tests in a calender year. (Source: Reuters)

Zimbabwe stunned Australia by beating them in an ODI after 31 years. The last time they did it, Duncan Fletcher, yes Duncan Fletcher was their captain ! The Africans won the match by 3 wickets. (Source: AP)

A first time for Lanka and a first time for Kohli too. The latter hadn't been totally outplayed in India and the home team did it with stand-in skipper Virat at the helm of things too.

An overdose of cricket: To mark the 200 years of the Lord's cricket ground MCC XI played ROW XI lead by Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkar respectively it was a treat for the cricket connoisseur the only downside being Shane Warne's broken hand. (Source: Reuters)

When the World and the PCB had almost written him off Younis Khan showed what he's capable of and took the Aussies by storm scoring tons and double tons at will in the UAE.

No prizes for guessing why he is on the list. 264, yes 264 runs in an ODI innings helped Rohit silence his critics and achieve what no man on earth had ever done. (Source: PTI)

6 for 4, yes you read that right, 6 wickets for 4 runs. Stuart Binny recorded the best bowling figures by an Indian bowler when a second string India side toured Bangladesh. (Source: PTI)

A sad end to a promising career: Philip Joel Hughes succmbed to a head injury he sustained after being hit by a Sean Abbott bouncer at the Sydney Cricket ground during a Shield match. His death cast shadows on the series that was to follow and left scars that will take perhaps an eternity to heal. (Source: AP)