ICC Awards 2019: Two Indians named in ICC Test team of the year

ICC has announced annual awards for the calendar year 2019. Along with that they have declared test and ODI teams of the year. Many superstars from world cricket along with few emerging players have taken center-stage in world XI.

Virat Kohli and Mayank Agarwal stand out for India

ICC Test team of the year is mostly dominated the Australians as expected. Australia had a stellar year in test match cricket last year. Three Kiwi players have also taken crucial positions in the XI. From the Indian perspective, Mayank Agarwal and Virat Kohli have been included in the list and Virat Kohli has been named as Captain of the team.

ICC Test team of the year

Mayank Agarwal

Tom Latham

Marnus Labuschagne

Virat Kohli ©

Steve Smith

Ben Stokes

BJ Watling

Pat Cummins

Mitch Starc

Neil Wagner

Nathan Lyon

Rewards for Consistency

After knocking the door down in domestic cricket, Mayank Agarwal has not looked back since his debut at MCG on boxing day last season. He has also added a double hundred to his resume against South Africa.

Mayank Agarwal has taken care of India’s opening issues in Test cricket, and his inclusion in the Test team of the year will surely boost his confidence going ahead.

On the other hand, Virat Kohli has just gone about his business as usual. He was brilliant during Australian tour especially his hundred at Perth was scintillating. He then capitalized during the home season against South Africa and Bangladesh. He had memorable day-out during the first Pink test ball for India.

Twitter explodes with reactions

Cricket fraternity wasted no time in posting reactions on Twitter. Here are best of them.

5 x Australians
3 x New Zealanders
2 x Indians
1 x Englishman

The XI making up the Test Team of the Year ? #ICCAwards pic.twitter.com/VG8SZoJ8bZ

— ICC (@ICC) January 15, 2020

Captain of both @ICC Test & ODI XI in the same year

2004: Ricky Ponting
2007: Ricky Ponting
2009: MS Dhoni
2017: Virat Kohli
2018: Virat Kohli
2019: Virat Kohli#ICCAwards

— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) January 15, 2020

This is the third Consecutive Occasion That VIRAT KOHLI has featured as the CAPTAIN of the
ICC Test and ICC ODI Teams of the Year

2017, 2018, 2019*
ICC Odi team captain – Kohli
ICC Test team captain – Kohli#ViratKohli #KingKohli @imVkohli pic.twitter.com/5mxY1UrIhl

— Virat Kohli Trends™ (@TrendVirat) January 15, 2020

? Ben Stokes named @ICC Player of the year.
? Pat Cummins wins Test Cricketer of the year.
? Rohit Sharma awarded ODI Cricketer of the year.
? Virat Kohli wins the 2019 Spirit of Cricket Award. pic.twitter.com/zRN1rmiWXB

— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) January 15, 2020

https://twitter.com/Offl_TheViper/status/1217339601850859521?s=19

Aussies dominate after a magnificent year

Australians dominate the ICC test team of the year with as many as 5 players featuring in the team. Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Starc have all been included in the team.

Marnus Labuschagne also won the ‘Emerging Player of the year’ award. Pat Cummins is crowned with Test Cricketer of the year. Australia retained the Ashes in England before dominating home summer. They whitewashed New Zealand and Pakistan convincingly to add valuable points in World Test Championship table.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyrAqAL4uGw