A year of historic turnarounds: How 2025 made cricketing gods flip the script?

Virat Kohli's RCB won the IPL 2025 this year [Source: @IPL/x]

Some cricketing years are remembered for elite landmarks, others are storied rivalries, but every once in a while, a season arrives that seems to bend the sport’s entire script altogether. The year 2025, although still ongoing, felt like one of those rare 12-month phase in cricket’s history where logic took a back seat as the game kept finding new ways to surprise its most ardent supporters.

From a drought-ending IPL win for a certain celebrated franchise to the near-politicization of the 2025 Men’s T20 Asia Cup in the UAE, the year 2025 unfolded as a sequence of moments that felt as improbable as they were unforgettable.

As the year draws to a close, here we take a look back at some defining moments that made 2025 one of the most extraordinary chapters in cricket’s modern history.

RCB breaks the IPL curse

RCB with IPL 2025 trophy [Source: @IPL/x]

After years of circling the summit without ever staying there, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) franchise claimed their long-elusive Indian Premier League (IPL) crown in June 2025, after defeating fellow maiden-title chasers Punjab Kings in a thrilling final. 

Fittingly, the team achieved the feat in the 18th edition of the tournament, the same number which the franchise’s most loyal servant, Virat Kohli, so proudly wears on his back.

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South Africa overcome past demons to win WTC

South Africa with WTC 2025 [Source: @ICC/x]

In the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 final at the iconic Lord’s, perennial underachievers South Africa did not just face defending champions Australia, they battled: decades of heartbreaks, a perpetual ‘choker’ tag, past knockout demons, and a tough 74-run first innings deficit against a champion pace trio that has won four world titles together.

Fortunately for the Proteas, Temba Bavuma’s spirited troops overcame it all by pulling off a record chase, riding on Aiden Markram’s gritty fourth-innings century to win their first ICC silverware in nearly 27 years.

South Africa rout India 2-0 in India

South Africa won the Test series in India [Source: @ProteasMenCSA/x]

Mere months after lifting the WTC 2025 crown at the winner’s podium in Lord’s, South Africa justified their generational championship run by humbling Team India in their own fortress. 

Out-spinning India’s experienced spin attack, the likes of Simon Harmer, Senuran Muthusamy, Keshav Maharaj and even lanky paceman Marco Jansen handed the hosts a record 408-run larruping in the Guwahati decider to clinch a historic 2-0 whitewash on Indian soil.

India Women finally rule the world

India won the 2025 Women's World Cup [Source: @BCCIWomen/x]

After decades of near misses and recurring despair, an Indian Women’s team finally conquered the world, doing so under the leadership of charismatic skipper Harmanpreet Kaur in the final of the 2025 ICC Women’s ODI World Cup. 

Star all-rounder Deepti Sharma anchored India’s victorious run, picking up 22 wickets in the tournament with the added bonus of 215 runs, which included a five-fer in the final against South Africa Women in Navi Mumbai complemented by a fiery half-century.

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India Under-19 Women’s double delight

India won their second successive U19 WC this year [Source: @BCCIWomen/x]

Exactly 10 months before the senior Indian Women’s team lifted the 2025 World Cup in India, a junior Indian Women’s team clinched the 2025 ICC Under-19 Women’s World Cup in Malaysia. 

Under the leadership of Karnataka’s Niki Prasad, the ‘Girls in Blue’ pulverized their South African counterparts in a mismatched finale to lift their second Under-19 World Cup crown in two years.

Politics + Cricket = India’s Asia Cup triple treat 

India celebrating 2025 Asia Cup win [Source: @BCCI/x]

They say sport and politics should never intersect, and rightfully so. But when cricket places two nuclear-powered neighbours like India and Pakistan on the same stage, as it did during the 2025 Men’s T20 Asia Cup in the UAE, which itself was set against the backdrop of simmering cross-border tensions between the two nations, the game inevitably begins to carry meanings far beyond runs and wickets.

The outcome saw Team India wallop Pakistan twice, once in the group stage and again in the Super Four round, before fans held their breath for a crackerjack of a final in Dubai. 

Slipping to 20-3 in a chase of 147, Tilak Varma pulled out a ‘Virat Kohli 2022 T20 World Cup’-esque rescue act to foil Pakistan’s party as India completed a virtual 3-0 series sweep to clinch the Asia Cup crown for the record ninth time.

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Hobart Hurricanes end curse in both BBL departments

Hobart Hurricanes won WBBL 2025 [Source: @WomenBBL/x]

It took Hobart Hurricanes 14 years to lift their first Big Bash League (BBL) silverware when they routed Sydney Thunder in a one-sided final in January earlier this year. By the end of the year, the Hurricanes franchise also secured its first Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) title by overpowering Perth Scorchers in the WBBL 2025 final.

The twin triumphs completed a landmark year for the franchise, finally placing Hobart Hurricanes among the BBL’s title-winning elite across both formats.

Triumphant beginning and a year-end surge for Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in Australia [Source: @BCCI/x]

Modern-day batting behemoths Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma became the epicentre of unfavourable headlines after India’s 0-3 home defeat to New Zealand and a 1-3 Border-Gavaskar Trophy drubbing in Australia. Yet, the two legendary Indian batters put it all behind them and masterminded India’s 2025 ICC Champions Trophy triumph in the UAE.

Even though both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma started off the year on an emphatic note, their Test downfall prompted them to step away from the format, choosing to focus solely on ODIs for Team India while setting their sights on the 2027 ICC World Cup.

While Rohit Sharma set the ODI stage ablaze with a match-winning century against Australia at the SCG in October, Virat Kohli muscled two tons and a fifty the following month at home against South Africa to aggregate over 300 runs in a three-match series, ensuring that both veterans signed off 2025 with renewed authority.

All in all, the year 2025 repeatedly defied expectation while also rekindling a sense of nostalgia, reminding cricket lovers why the game’s past and present can still collide so beautifully.

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