ICC, on Tuesday, January 23, 2024, announced the Men’s Test team of the year for 2023 and it features the majority of the Australian team members who won the World Test Championship 2023.
Only two Indian players have been named in the ICC Men's Test Team of the Year which is captained by Australia’s Pat Cummins. Alongside Cummins, WTC Final centurion Travis Head, opener Usman Khawaja, wicketkeeper Alex Carey, and fast bowler Mitchell Starc have been named in the list.
Opener Usman Khawaja, the only player to reach 1,000 Test runs in 2023, returns to the Test squad for the second year in a row, having scored 1,210 runs at an average of 52.60 and three hundreds. The other Australian players picked to the team are Travis Head, Player of the Match in the WTC Final, and wicketkeeper Alex Carey.
Sri Lanka opener Dimuth Karunaratne partners Khawaja atop the order, with New Zealand star Kane Williamson claiming the number three batting spot, as five international teams have representation in the Test team.
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From India, all-rounder spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have cut. Jadeja was impressive against Australia in the home Test series, taking a fifer and scoring a fifty in the Nagpur Test, while taking a ten-wicket haul in the next game. He had recently taken seven wickets and scored a fifty against West Indies in the two-match series away from home.
R Ashwin was the leading wicket-taker for India in the Border-Gavaskar series, finishing with 25 wickets in four matches. And was also the Player of the Series. He also picked 12 wickets (5/60 and 7/71) in the first game against West Indies followed by fifty and three wickets in the next game.
ICC Men's Test Team of the Year for 2023:
Usman Khawaja, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kane Williamson, Joe Root, Travis Head, Ravindra Jadeja, Alex Carey (WK), Pat Cummins (C), Ravichandran Ashwin, Mitchell Starc, Stuart Broad