Rohit captain as six Indians feature in Men’s ODI Team of the Year

Dubai:  India skipper Rohit Sharma was named captain with five other Indians making the cut for ICC Men’s ODI team of the year released on Tuesday.

Joining Rohit in the ODI team of the year are Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Mohammad Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammad Shami, with Travis Head (Australia), Daryl Mitchell (New Zealand), Heinrich Klaasen (wk) (South Africa), Marco Jansen (South Africa), Adam Zampa (Australia) also making the cut.

Rohit continued his remarkable record in ODI cricket with yet another sensational year in 2023 with the bat as he amassed a whopping 1255 runs at an average of 52. He was at his brilliant best throughout much of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, with his magnificent knock of 131 against Afghanistan in Delhi a clear highlight.

Gill established himself as Rohit’s preferred partner at the top of batting order at the start of 2023 when he smashed a wonderful 208 from just 149 deliveries against New Zealand in Hyderabad.

It was one of five occasions that Gill managed to reach triple figures in 50-over in 2023 and no player finished with more runs (1584) than the star right-hander compiled during the calendar year.

Kohli compiled yet another consistent 12 months in 2023 and only teammate Shubman Gill bettered his total of 1377 runs during the calendar year.

Kohli reached three figures on six occasions in 2023, breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most international centuries during India’s World Cup campaign on his way to winning the Player of the Tournament award at the showcase event.

The exciting right-armer, Siraj, collected a total of 44 wickets during 2023, with his most impressive performance coming in the final of the Asia Cup as he single-handedly destroyed Sri Lanka’s strong batting line-up.

He ripped through the Sri Lanka top-order on his way to career-best figures of 6/21 as India clinched the Asia Cup title in style, and entered their home World Cup campaign full of confidence.

No player in the world picked up more wickets than Kuldeep last year, with the in-form left-arm spinner finishing 2023 with an imposing total of 49 ODI scalps.

Kuldeep’s biggest haul came against arch-rival Pakistan during the Super Four stage of the Asia Cup as the spinner collected the excellent figures of 5/25 to help India on their path to the title.

–IANS