Virat Kohli was the Team India’s top-scorer in 2023 with 671 runs in 12 Test innings.© AFP
Team India’s had a mixed bag of results in Test cricket in 2023. The Rohit Sharma-led side played the final game of the year in the longest format of the game against South Africa, losing by an innings and 32 runs. India won Test series against Australia and West Indies, but lost the World Test Championship (WTC) final to the Pat Cummins-led side. In terms of individual performances, star batter Virat Kohli was the team’s top-scorer with 671 runs in 12 innings at an average of 55.91. Following his knock of 76 in the second innings of the first Test against South Africa, Kohli ended the year with two centuries and as many half-centuries to his name.
In the bowling department, Ravichandran Ashwin bagged 41 wickets, followed by Ravindra Jadeja with 33 scalps.
With Test cricket coming to a close in 2023 following the Boxing Day Test between Australia and Pakistan, veteran commentator and analyst Harsha Bhogle jotted down his Test team of the year 2023.
Bhogle made the picks in a video uploaded by Cricbuzz.
For the openers slot, Bhogle picked Australia’s Usman Khawaja and England Zak Crawley. Khawaja scored 1210 runs in 12 matches, hitting three centuries and six-half-centuries.
Meanwhile, Crawley amassed more than 600 runs in eight matches, smashing one century and three fifties.
In the middle order, New Zealand’s Kane Williamson and the English duo of Joe Root and Harry Brook. The former Kiwi skipper scored 695 runs in seven matches, while Root and Brook amassed more than 700 runs, both having played eight matches.
For the wicketkeeper’s role, Bhogle picked New Zealand’s Tom Blundell.
India’s Ashwin and Jadeja also found a place in Bhogle’s team of the year as all-rounders.
In the bowling department, Australian pacers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were picked by Bhogle, alongwith England’s Stuart Broad, who had announced his retirement earlier this year.
Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Mohammed Shami are the notable absentees from the list, with only two Indians making the XI.
Harsha Bhogle’s Test Team of 2023
Usman Khawaja, Zak Crawley, Kane Williamson, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ravindra Jadeja, Tom Blundell, R Ashwin, Stuart Broad, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood
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