Harsha Bhogle names his best Test XI of the year 2019

As the year 2019 is days away from ending, many of the publications and websites came up with their playing XIs of the year whether in ODIs, T20Is or Test matches. The year was filled with impeccable performances in the Test matches given that the year also saw the start of the ICC World Test Championship.

Till now the points table is being dominated by the Indian team who have won all seven of their Tests in the ongoing Championship with 360 points, but Australia has crept up to the second spot with 6 wins from 9 matches and a total of 256 points. However, apart from team achievement, the players had some amazing individual feats as well. Eminent journalist and cricket expert Harsha Bhogle shared his best Test XI of 2019 for Cricbuzz

Three Indians make the cut in Harsha Bhogle’s best XI of Tests in 2019

In a video, Bhogle shared his best eleven players of 2019, in which three Indian players made the cut. Mayank Agarwal, the Karnataka opener solidified his spot at the top with 754 runs in 8 Tests this year. He scored three centuries, with two of them coming against South Africa, along with his highest score of 243 and all these runs were scored at an average of 68.54.

Rohit Sharma made his debut as an opener in Tests this year, against South Africa as well and celebrated with twin centuries in the first Test against Proteas and then slammed a doubleton (212) in the next Test match on his way to accumulating 556 runs in 5 Test matches at an average of 92.66. Apart from these two, speedster Mohammed Shami also made the cut, as he picked 33 wickets at an average of 16.66 and best bowling of 5/35 and strike rate of 35.3.

Other players to be included by Bhogle in his Test XI of 2019

Tom Latham (601 runs) and Marnus Labuschagne (1104 runs) were the other batsmen picked by Bhogle in his XI. Ben Stokes (807 runs and 22 wickets) was the first-choice all-rounder thanks to his impact in the Ashes 2019. New Zealand keeper BJ Watling (559 runs) made the cut as well to be the designated wicketkeeper.

Nathan Lyon (45 wickets), Mitchell Starc (42), Neil Wagner (43 wickets) and Pat Cummins (59 wickets) were the chosen bowling attack by Bhogle. All of these bowlers had a big impact on their teams in the Test matches in 2019.

Harsha Bhogle’s Test XI of 2019:

Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Tom Latham, Marnus Labuschagne, Ben Stokes, BJ Watling, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Neil Wagner, Pat Cummins, Mohammed Shami