A few days after Cricket Australia picked their Test XI of 2016 and named India’s Virat Kohli as the captain, former Australian pacer Glenn McGrath joined the trend and picked out his Test XI of the year. Interestingly, he too decided to pick Virat Kohli as the captain of the team, which consists of three Australians and Englishmen.
When asked about whether he picked his team based on statistics alone, the former Australian said that he looked at a lot of other important things as well, apart from the statistics.
"I haven't picked it just on stats alone," he said. "Stats are important, but it's all about attitude, the way you hold yourself in the game, and the effect you can have on the game.To me that's probably more important than stats. But if you've got both, you've got the perfect cricketer, the perfect team and I'm happy with this team,” he continued.
Extra Cover: Sportskeeda's Test XI of the year
Pidge, as he was commonly called throughout his career decided to pick David Warner and Joe Root as the openers of the team. Both, Warner and Root have had a spectacular year for their respective teams. While Warner has scored 748 runs in 11 matches at an average of 41.55, Joe Root has almost doubled his tally, as he has scored 1477 runs in 17 matches at an average of 49.23.
The Australian legend picked out one of the strongest middle-order batsmen which consist of three captains in the form of India’s Virat Kohli, Australia’s Steve Smith, and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson. Along with Joe Root, the four of them are known as the batting Fab 4 due to their spectacular batting performances on the field for their respective countries.
Going further down the order, McGrath decided to pick Englishman Jonny Bairstow as the wicketkeeper-batsman of the team.
"The wicketkeeper position I found a little bit tough, but Jonny Bairstow has had such an incredible year that I couldn't go past him. I do like Quinton de Kock from South Africa, but Bairstow had an incredible year. He scored 1470 runs, just below Joe Root, and at an incredible average,” said McGrath about Bairstow’s selection.
England’s Ben Stokes and India’s Ravichandran Ashwin were picked as the two all-rounders in his team. While Stokes has provided worthy contributions with the bat and ball for his side, Ashwin has been a class apart. He was picked as the ICC Cricketer of the Year due to his spectacular performance with the bat and ball for India this year.
Pidge decided to go with the duo of Mitchell Starc and Kagiso Rabada to bolster the pace attack of his team. Arguably, two of the most fearsome bowlers in today’s world, Starc and Rabada picked up a combined total of 89 wickets amongst themselves.
Pakistan’s Yasir Shah completed the team for McGrath. He was sensational this year for Pakistan, as he picked up 48 wickets in 14 matches at an average of 26.56.
Glenn McGrath’s Test XI: David Warner ( Australia ), Joe Root (England), Virat Kohli (India, Captain), Steve Smith (Australia), Kane Williamson (New Zealand), Jonny Bairstow (England, Wicket-Keeper), Ben Stokes (England), Ravichandran Ashwin (India), Mitchell Starc (Australia), Kagiso Rabada (South Africa), Yasir Shah (Pakistan).
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