Aakash Chopra names his Test XI of 2023, picks 4 Indians
Former India batter Aakash Chopra has named his Test XI of 2023. Chopra’s dream Test team for the year features four Indians, two Australians, three Englishmen, and one player each from New Zealand and Bangladesh.
Australia played 13 Tests in 2023, winning six and losing four. They also won the World Test Championship (WTC) final, beating India at The Oval by 209 runs. Speaking of India, they played eight matches, winning three and losing three, while two games ended in a draw. England won four and lost three of their eight Tests in 2023, while one match ended in a draw.
In a video on his YouTube channel, Chopra picked his Test team for the year 2023. He chose Australia’s Usman Khawaja and India’s Rohit Sharma as the opening pair.
Khawaja was the leading run-getter in Tests in 2023, scoring 1210 runs in 13 matches at an average of 52.60 with three hundreds and six fifties. Indian captain Rohit hit 545 runs in eight matches, averaging 41.92 with two tons and two half-centuries.
Chopra picked Joe Root, Virat Kohli, and Harry Brook as his middle-order batters while naming Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim as the keeper-batter.
Root scored 787 runs in eight matches at an average of 65.58 with two hundreds and five fifties. Kohli totaled 671 runs in eight matches, averaging 55.91 with two centuries and as many fifties. Speaking of Brook, he hit 701 runs in eight Tests at an average of 53.92 with one hundred and six fifties.
Bangladesh’s veteran stumper Rahim played only four Tests in 2023 but notched up 355 runs at an average of 50.71 with one hundred and two fifties.
Jadeja, Ashwin in Chopra’s Test XI of 2023
Chopra picked Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja as well as off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in his Test XI of 2023. While Jadeja claimed 33 scalps in seven matches at an average of 19.3 with two five-fers, he has also scored 281 runs at an average of 35.1.
Veteran spinner Ashwin was India’s leading wicket-taker in Tests in 2023. He picked up 41 scalps in seven matches at an average of 17.02 with four five-fers.
Australia’s Mitchell Starc, New Zealand’s Tim Southee, and England’s Stuart Broad are the three pacers in Chopra’s Test XI of 2023. Starc claimed 38 wickets in nine Tests at an average of 29.63 with one five-fer and three four-fers.
Southee ended 2023 with 24 scalps in seven Tests at an average of 27.4, while the retired Broad signed off with 38 wickets in eight Tests at an average of 26.28.
Aakash Chopra’s Test XI of 2023: Usman Khawaja, Rohit Sharma, Joe Root, Virat Kohli, Harry Brook, Mushfiqur Rahim, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mitchell Starc, Tim Southee, and Stuart Broad.