The flamboyant Rohit Sharma featured as opener, Rishabh Pant as wicketkeeper and R Ashwin as the lone specialist spinner in the ICC men’s ‘Test Team of the Year’ but no Indian player was included in the global body’s ODI XI for 2021. After going unrepresented in the ICC men’s T20 Team of the Year due to a disastrous World Cup campaign in the UAE, it was no surprise to see the Indians miss out in the apex body’s ODI side as well after playing just six matches.
India, however, have three representatives in the year’s best team for the game’s longest format, with New Zealand talisman Kane Williamson as its skipper. Besides the absence of India players, the ODI team also doesn’t have anyone from Australia, English, New Zealand or West Indies.
The team, which has Pakistan’s Babar Azam as its captain, has two of his teammates, including Fakhar Zaman.
Smriti in women’s side
Star India opener Smriti Mandhana was named in the ICC T20 women’s Team of the Year for her superlative show in the format in 2021. The stylish Southpaw, who is the Indian team’s vice-captain in the format, was the country’s highest scorer in the format in 2021 with 255 runs at an average of 31. 87. The 25-year-old scored two fifties in the nine matches she played and got her team off to rapid starts regularly, as evident up by her strike-rate of 131. 44.
While Mandhana was the only Indian, several members of the English side feature in the team with Nat Scriver being named captain. The experienced England all-rounder produced many impactful performances throughout the year. Batting in the middle-order, Sciver scored a total of 153 runs, including one fifty, and she also picked up10 wickets at an excellent average of 20. 20.
Accompanying Mandhana at the top is England’s Tammy Beaumont.
