Virat Kohli does not need us, we need him: Bumrah
Bumrah, however, stressed that Kohli knows his cricket better than anyone else and that his experience of batting in these challenging conditions was essential from the team’s perspective.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced its Test Team of the Year 2024 on Friday, featuring three Indian players with premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, experienced all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and emerging opening batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Australia Test skipper and fast bowler Pat Cummins was named as the captain of the squad, being the sole representative from his country in the lineup. Besides the three Indians and Cummins, the squad includes four players from England and two from New Zealand and a Sri Lankan in Kamindu Mendis.
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Despite qualifying for the upcoming ICC World Test Championship final against Australia in June, none of the South African players made the cut in the ICC Test Team of the Year 2024.
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While Bumrah ended the leading wicket-taker in 2024, with 71 wickets from 26 matches at an average of 14.93 and had a historic Border-Gavaskar Trophy campaign on Australian soil with 32 scalps, England’s Joe Root headlined the list of batters, and ended up as the leading run-scorer of the year, amassing 1,556 runs across 17 matches at an average of 55.57 and climbed to fifth in the list of players with the most runs in the history of Test cricket.
The Test Team of the Year picked by ICC also includes young guns Yashasvi Jaiswal and Harry Brook. Jaiswal scored the second-most runs in Tests behind Root and accumulated 1478 runs at an average of 52.79, besides ending up as his side’s leading scorer in the BGT with 391 runs, including a century and two fifties. Brook also had a spectacular year and scored 1100 runs in 20 matches at 55.
Sri Lanka’s Kamindu Mendis was the breakthrough talent of last year and the 26-year-old scored 1049 runs at an unbelievable average of 74.93. His collection of five centuries in Tests in 2024 was only bettered by Root who scored six tons. Kane Williamson of New Zealand, with four centuries, also made it to the side.
England’s Jamie Smith has been included as the wicket-keeper of the side after he scored 637 runs at 42.47 and at a strike rate of 72.30. Ben Duckett, the fourth player from England to feature on the side, was also the third-highest run-scorer last year with 1149 runs. The English opener’s strike rate of 87.05 was also the highest among the top 15 run-scorers in Tests.
Besides Cummins and Bumrah, Matt Henry of New Zealand rounds off the pace-bowling unit. Henry claimed 48 wickets in 18 matches last year. World No.1 all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, with 527 runs and 48 wickets in 2024, rounds off the ICC Test Team of the Year.
ICC Test Team of the Year 2024: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ben Duckett, Kane Williamson, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Kamindu Mendis, Jamie Smith, Ravindra Jadeja, Pat Cummins (c), Jasprit Bumrah, Matt Henry.
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