Cricket Australia has announced the World Test Championship Team for the year 2023. The team consists of players who have performed well in the last two years from 2021-23. Pakistan skipper Babar Azam was one of them who made it to the “best XI”.
According to Cricket Australia, this team “salutes those who delivered for the entirety of the WTC’s two-year cycle, and tries to create a team that would flourish in all conditions.”
Babar has scored over 1,500 runs in just 14 Tests in the longest format of the game and has been placed third on the team after the opening duo. His exceptional performances include a 425-ball 196 against Australia in Karachi, and centuries against Sri Lanka, England and New Zealand.
Babar played eight Tests in batter-friendly conditions in Pakistan and averaged 56.30 in away games, including 119 against Sri Lanka in Galle. Other players in the team are Australia’s Usman Khawaja and Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne as openers, followed by England’s Joe Root, Australia’s Travis Head, India’s Ravindra Jadeja, and Rishabh Pant as a wicketkeeper. For the bowling side, Ravichandran Ashwin has been chosen for the specialist spinner role, Pat Cummins from Australia is made the captain of the team, South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada, and England’s James Anderson.
