Virat Kohli To Lead Cricket Australia's Test Team Of The Decade

With the decade set to come to an end within a week, Cricket Australia, on Monday, released their Test XI of the decade and only one Indian made it to the star-studded side. India captain Virat Kohli is the only Indian who made it to the prestigious team. Virat Kohli has been the flagbearer of the Indian team this decade.

At the start of the decade, the likes of Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar and other stalwarts retired from the game. And Virat Kohli played a huge role in India’s seamless transition. At present, he is the number one Test batsman in the world while India are at the top of ICC Test Rankings for more than three years now.

Talking about the rest of the team, it has four players from England, one from New Zealand, two from South Africa and three from Australia. Former England skipper Alastair Cook and David Warner will open the innings in the team. Cook retired from the game last year as England’s highest run-scorer in the longest format of the game.

Warner, on the other hand, continues to be one of the best openers in the world at the moment. Recently, he scored his first triple-hundred in Tests when he scored an unbeaten 335 against Pakistan. At number three, Cricket Australia picked New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson followed by Steve Smith. Williamson has scored more runs than anyone at the No.3 spot this decade and did it at an average of 55.53 while Smith is widely regarded as Australia’s greatest Test batsman after Don Bradman.

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Kohli is at number five and has been named the captain of the side. He is followed by his IPL teammate and former South Africa captain AB de Villiers. England’s Ben Stokes has been picked as the only allrounder in the team. In the bowling department, Cricket Australia has gone for three pacers and one spinner. Dale Steyn, Stuart Broad and James Anderson are the three pacers while Nathan Lyon is the sole spinner.

Here is Cricket Australia’s Test XI Of the Decade:

Alastair Cook, David Warner, Kane Williamson, Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Ben Stokes, Dale Steyn, Stuart Broad, Nathan Lyon, James Anderson