International Cricket Council (ICC), on Tuesday (January 23), announced the Test team of the year 2023. Pat Cummins has been named the captain of the team for leading Australia to the World Test Championship beating India in the final. Cummins was also the top wicket-taker in Tests in 2023 with 42 scalps in 11 matches he played in the year.
Other Australian players in the Test team of the year are Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc. Khawaja had amassed 1210 runs in 13 Tests last year while Head also had a memorable year smashing 919 runs including a stunning ton in the WTC Final. Carey topped the list of most dismissals as wicket-keeper plucking 44 catches and affecting 10 stumpings. As for Starc, the left-arm pacer accounted for 38 wickets in just nine matches.
Interestingly, there is no place for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the team with Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin being the only two Indian players in the XI. Jadeja played a vital role for India in the Test format as an all-rounder last year while Ashwin picked up 25 wickets in the Border Gavaskar Trophy in four Tests and then followed it with 15 wickets in the series against the West Indies away from home.
Dimuth Karunaratne, Joe Root and Kane Williamson are the other batters in the team even as Australia's Steve Smith too has missed out following not so great performance in the entire 2023. As far as the bowling attack is concerned, Stuar Broad will assist Cummins and Starc in the Test team of the year as it turned out to be his last year in international cricket.
ICC Test team of the year: Usman Khawaja, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kane Williamson, Joe Root, Travis Head, Ravindra Jadeja, Alex Carey (WK), Pat Cummins (C), Ravi Ashwin, Mitchell Starc, Stuart Broad
