Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal deservedly found a place in the ICC’s Test Team of the Year 2024 that featured four Englishmen with Australian Pat Cummins as its captain.
After announcing the best men's ODI team for the year 2024 on Friday, the ICC has also announced the best Test Team of the Year 2024.
The command of the team has been handed over to Australian captain Pat Cummins.
England has the maximum number of four players in the best Test Team of the Year. At the same time, three players from India and two from New Zealand have got places.
Only one player from Australia is in this team, whereas no player from the South Africa, which reached the final of the World Test Championship, is in this team.
Indian trio in the team
Only two of the four best batsmen of the current era have got a place in the team. These include New Zealand's Kane Williamson and Joe Root.
Steve Smith and Virat Kohli could not make it to the team.
The three Indian players who have been included in the team are opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah.
Also Read: Most Test wickets in 2024: Bumrah, Atkinson, Bashir and more
Bumrah is currently the top bowler in the ICC Test rankings, while Jadeja is the top-ranked all-rounder in Tests.
Jadeja enjoyed a sensational year with both bat and ball and scored runs and picked up wickets in 2024.
The left-arm spinner and batter scored 527 runs in 2024 at an average of 29.27 and snared 48 wickets at an impressive average of 24.29.
While Jasprit Bumrah began 2024 with a stellar performance against England, taking 19 wickets in four matches, including a magical nine-wicket haul in Vishakhapatnam.
He extended his tally with 11 wickets in just two games against Bangladesh at home.
During the Australia tour, Bumrah emerged as the lone warrior for India with an extraordinary haul of 32 wickets and became the first bowler to average under 20 with a minimum of 200 wickets in Test cricket.
Root and Jaiswal have been shining
Root was the highest run scorer in Test last year, accumulating 1,556 runs at an average of 55.57.
Also Read: Most Test runs in 2024: Root, Jaiswal, Duckett and more
Whereas, Jaiswal was at second place in this list. Over the calendar year, Jaiswal scored a remarkable 1,478 runs at an impressive average of 54.74.
Williamson also showed excellent form after returning from injury.
He was also one of the stand-out performers in 2024 as he accumulated 1,013 runs in 2024 at an outstanding average of 59.58, making him the sixth-highest run-scorer of the year.
However, all three teams are out of the race for the final of the ICC World Test Championship.
Australia will face South Africa in the final at the historic Lord's ground in June.
ICC Test Team of the Year 2024
Pat Cummins (c) (Australia), Yashasvi Jaiswal (India), Ben Duckett (England), Kane Williamson (New Zealand), Joe Root (England), Harry Brook (England), Kamindu Mendis (Sri Lanka), Jamie Smith (wk) (England), Ravindra Jadeja (India), Matt Henry (New Zealand), Jasprit Bumrah (India).