In an eventful year, cricket continued to dominate Indian sports but others played the catch-up game, slowly but surely gaining new grounds and winning new fans.

In a tale of two skippers, King Kohli reaches new heights but captain Smith's fortunes plummet.

The Sharath Kamal-led men's team exceeded its own expectations by winning a bronze at the Asian Games in Jakarta after stunning mighty Japan in the quarterfinals.

Rafael Nadal dominated in typical fashion on clay, swaggering to an 11th Roland Garros title, but the injury-plagued Spaniard limped out of two other Grand Slams before further fitness problems curtailed his season.

There were four World Cups and a World Cup Final but Deepika Kumari was the lone bright spot for India in recurve archery.

It wouldn't be wrong to call Mary Kom ageless for she was around when women's boxing took baby-steps towards going mainstream and she is still around when it gears up for an Olympic expansion in 2020.

As an eventful year comes to a close, we present you with some of the best photos capturing the spirit of Indian sports.

With the national federation's decision to introduce a contracts system for 150 grapplers in India, the sport is set to be professionalised like never before.

India will take confidence from some impressive results in the recent past, the most prominent being the goal-less stalemate with China, coached by World Cup-winning Italian manager Marcello Lippi.

That the vacuum is real can be gauged from the fact that a 45-year-old Leander Paes is still India's biggest player, winning titles even this year, dropping no hints of retirement. It is a tribute to his longevity but also a reflection of the lack of depth in Indian tennis.