Wisden announces World Test Championship XI Babar Azam and Virat Kohli miss out
Wisden has shared its World Test Championship (WTC) team which doesn't have any Pakistan player. Neither Babar Azam nor Virat Kohli make the grade.
Ahead of the high-octane World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand on June 18 at the Ageas Bowl, Wisden has announced its team of the WTC. Among the list features India's flamboyant opening batsman Rohit Sharma who amassed 1030 runs at an average of 64.37 in 11 matches. Not only Rohit scored fluently at home but he also racked up big runs Down Under. He scored four centuries and two fifties in the inaugural edition of WTC.
Sri Lanka's skipper Dimuth Karunaratne accumulated 999 runs at a superb average of 55.5 in ten Tests with four centuries and as many half-centuries to his name. The tons came at Galle, Pallekelle and Johannesburg and before ending Sri Lanka's WTC campaign, he struck magnificent tons against Bangladesh.
The gritty batter from Australia, Marnus Labuschagne, piled up 1675 runs at a stupendous average of 72.8 in 13 Tests. He made five centuries and nine fifties. The leading performer of the WTC, after getting a chance as a concussion substitute in the Ashes 2019, didn't look back, pounced on the opportunity and cemented his spot in the side. Labuschagne rose to No.3 ranking in no time.
The ex-Australia captain Steve Smith had a memorable Ashes where he gathered 774 runs in four Tests, smashed three centuries at an impressive average of 110.5. In his entire WTC experience, he piled 1341 runs, maintained an average of 63.8, scored four centuries and seven fifties. Next up, Wisden named New Zealand cool and calm captain Kane Williamson who collected 817 runs in nine games, averaged a shade above 58 and struck three centuries and a fifty. Williamson sits at the top of ICC Test rankings and his best knocks of 251 and 238 came against West Indies and Pakistan respectively.
Arguably the most prolific match-winner of the present era, Ben Stokes heaped together 1334 runs in 17 matches, averaged exactly 46, scored four blistering centuries and shed 34 wickets. Stokes finished the WTC as the fourth-leading run-maker and who can forget his heroics in the Ashes battle at Headingley where he snatched the victory from the jaws of defeat in a rearguard lone-ranger performance.
Rishabh Pant, the livewire on the field, played a few breathtaking innings in high-stakes games in Australia and hogged the limelight. Pant amassed 662 runs in 11 Tests, averaging 41.37 and he thumped one century, took 35 catches in his WTC journey.
Moving to the bowlers' list, Kyle Jamieson burst onto the scenes emphatically and made a mark in his first-ever WTC. He has already snared 36 batsmen at an astonishing average of 13.27 with best figures of 11/117. He picked up four fifers in six Tests. The dextrous off-spinner from India, Ravichandran Ashwin took 67 wickets at a phenomenal bowling average of 20.88 and has four five-wicket hauls.
The deck-hitting enforcer Pat Cummins dismissed 70 batsmen at a terrific average of 21.02 and he barely went wicketless in his maiden WTC campaign. Stuart Broad, who has voluminously improved as a red-ball cricket specialist and owing to his longevity, features in the list. His menacing spells against David Warner in the Ashes would be a cherished memory for Broad when he looks back at his WTC campaign and being England's leading wicket-taker and second-highest wicket-taker among all bowlers in WTC, he deservingly earns a place in the coveted Wisden's WTC XI.
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