Cricket Australia has hand-picked 11 high-performing cricketers of the last two years to constitute its World Test Championship Team for the year 2023.
The years 2021-23 featured historic tours, great records and extraordinary performances by some of the best players in the world and Babar Azam is one of them.
The World Test Championship's "Best XI", which includes the Pakistani skipper, "salutes those who delivered for the entirety of the WTC's two-year cycle, and tries to create a team that would flourish in all conditions", said Cricket Australia.
The star batter had a phenomenal 24 months in the longest format of the game with over 1,500 runs in just 14 matches and has been placed third on the team after the openers.
"His 425-ball 196 against Australia in Karachi was a performance of epic proportions that almost resulted in an unlikely Pakistan victory. He also notched centuries against Sri Lanka, England, and New Zealand."
According to Cricket Australia, Babar played eight Tests in batter-friendly conditions in Pakistan and averaged 56.30 in away games including 119 against Sri Lanka in Galle.
The rest of the players in the team are Australia's Usman Khawaja who has been chosen for the opening position. He has compiled 1,608 runs in just 16 Test matches.
Sri Lanka's Dimuth Karunaratne is Khawaja's opening partner with 1,054 runs in only 12 matches.
The other players include England's Joe Root with 1,915 runs in 22 matches, Australia's Travis Head with 1,208 runs in 17 matches, and India's Ravindra Jadeja with 673 runs in 12 matches, while Rishabh Pant has been chosen as a wicketkeeper with 868 runs in 12 matches.
As for the bowling side, Ravichandran Ashwin has been chosen for the specialist spinner role with 61 wickets in just 13 matches. Australia's Pat Cummins — who has been made the captain of the team — has 53 wickets in 15 matches, South Africa's Kagiso Rabada has 67 wickets in 13 matches, and England's James Anderson has 58 wickets in 15 matches.
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