Opener Rohit Sharma, spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel, and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant are four Indians who feature in Cricket.com.au’s Test team of the year 2021. Pakistan cricketers Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali, Fawad Alam were also elected to the Cricket.com.au Test team of the year.
Rohit Sharma conquered his Test frontier this year by showing he can score big runs in the longest format in overseas conditions. And a strong 2021 that saw him finish behind only Joe Root for most runs could have been even better if the classy right-hander had translated multiple strong starts into big hundreds.
Rishabh Pant was named as the wicketkeeper. His numbers would look considerably better if he’d been able to turn scores of 97 (in Sydney), 89no (in Brisbane) and 91 (in Chennai) into hundreds. The way he dismantled Australia and England at the start of the year rightfully earned him comparisons with the great Adam Gilchrist. Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel have scalped 54 and 36 wickets, with an average of 16.64 and 11.86, respectively this year.
Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne was the lone player from the national side who was included in the list.
Cricket Australia Test XI of 2021: Rohit Sharma, Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Joe Root, Fawad Alam, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Kyle Jamieson, Axar Patel, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi