Legendary Aussie cricketer Ricky Ponting ended the year by unveiling his Test team of the decade on Twitter and surprisingly he has not included any Australian pacer in the team which included four players from England.
“Everyone is picking teams of the decade so I thought I’d join in the fun. This would be my Test team of the 2010s,” Ponting wrote on his official Twitter handle.
According to Ponting, England’s former captain Alastair Cook will open the innings with explosive Aussie opening batter David Warner. The number three position will be held by the New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson. They will then be followed by Steven Smith at number four and Virat Kohli on number five, who has also been chosen to lead the side.
Virat Kohli has scored more than 7200 runs in Test cricket during this decade while Steve Smith has accumulated 7164 runs during this time. Meanwhile, the Kiwi skipper scored 6379 runs in the 2010s. But if we go by the averages, then Smith has the highest average this decade (62.64).
Kohli also holds the numero uno position in both ICC Test and ODI Batting rankings.
Everyone's picking teams of the decade so I thought I'd join in the fun. This would be my Test team of the 2010's:
David Warner
Alastair Cook
Kane Williamson
Steve Smith
Virat Kohli (c)
Kumar Sangakkarra (wk)
Ben Stokes
Dale Steyn
Nathan Lyon
Stuart Broad
James Anderson— Ricky Ponting AO (@RickyPonting) December 30, 2019
Former Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara will keep the stumps and Ben Stokes will uphold the duties of an all-rounder. The only spinner to make the cut in the elite list is none other than Nathan Lyon. The off-spinner has taken over 380 wickets this decade with 16 five-wicket hauls and 2 ten-wicket hauls.
On the other hand, the pace attack will be spearheaded by the likes of Dale Steyn, Stuart Broad, and James Anderson. Steyn (267 wickets), Broad (403 wickets), and Anderson (429 wickets) have taken more than 1000 Test wickets this decade and suitably find a place in Ponting’s team.
The team is much similar to Wisden’s Test team of the decade. The only difference is that Ravichandran Ashwin took Lyon’s place on that list while AB de Villiers was chosen as the wicketkeeper of the team.
Ricky Ponting’s Test team of the decade:
Alastair Cook, David Warner, Kane Williamson, Steve Smith, Virat Kohli (C), Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Ben Stokes, Dale Steyn, Nathan Lyon, Stuart Broad, James Anderson