Three Indians made it to the ODI Team of the Year named by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday, 15 January, with India skipper Virat Kohli named captain by the cricket body to lead the side.
The 11-member side, led by Kohli featured Rohit Sharma as the opener and was paired with West Indian Shai Hope at the top of the order. Both Sharma and Hope had a dream run in the 2019 calendar year with the India limited-overs vice-captain smashing five centuries in the World Cup — the first cricketer in the history of the quadrennial tournament.
Both Sharma and Hope had featured in 28 matches and aggregated 1490 and 1354 runs respectively. However, while the talismanic Indian slammed four centuries in that period, Hope only had four to his name in the period.
Expectedly, Kohli was named at No 3 in the batting order. The Indian raked up a better average in 2019 (59.86) than his overall average in the format — scoring five centuries in the process to emerge as the No 1 player on the ICC ODI rankings as well.
Following is the full list of cricketers who were named part of the team:
ICC ODI Team of the Year
- Rohit Sharma
- Shai Hope
- Virat Kohli (captain)
- Babar Azam
- Kane Williamson
- Ben Stokes
- Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper)
- Mitchell Starc
- Trent Boult
- Mohammed Shami
- Kuldeep Yadav
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