- विज्ञापन -
New Delhi: Veteran India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, Australia’s left-handed batting pair of Usman Khawaja and Travis Head, and England’s premier batter Joe Root have made it to the shortlist for ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year 2023 award.
Ashwin had previously won the award in 2016 and was nominated for this honour in 2021. In 2023, Ashwin picked 41 wickets in seven matches, despite missing out on selection for India in the World Test Championship final against Australia at The Oval in June.
On the other hand, Travis Head enjoyed his most prolific year in Test cricket since making his debut in 2018, making 919 runs in 12 matches, including a match-winning 163 in Australia’s first innings in the WTC final.
He started off with a half-century in the New Year Test match against South Africa. Even in the challenging Border-Gavaskar series, where many Australian batters struggled, Head stood out as one of the only three visiting players to amass over 200 runs, after being shockingly dropped for the opening Test in Nagpur.
Khawaja later shone against India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, finishing as the top run-getter among both teams with 333 runs in four matches, which included a century and two fifties. After a lean WTC final performance, Khawaja bounced back by being the highest run-getter in the Ashes with 496 runs.
Like Ashwin, Root is eyeing his second ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year honour, having won the award previously in 2021. He began the year in style, with three fifty-plus scores in the two-match series against New Zealand.
This included a brilliant 153 not out and 95 in the second game which played out to be one of the most thrilling Test matches of the year, that New Zealand won by one run. Root followed it up with another half-century in the one-off Test against Ireland and a stellar Ashes series.
He began the five-match series against Australia with an unbeaten 118 in the opening Test at Edgbaston. After a couple of lean returns, Root finished the series on a high with a half-century each in the last two Tests, helping England draw the series 2-2. Root also proved to be very handy with the ball, scalping eight wickets in 2023.
