The year 2021 was an exciting one for Team India as far as Test cricket is concerned. The Indian team, despite the absence of skipper Virat Kohli for the last four Tests, defeated Australia 2-1 in their own backyard. The Virat Kohli-led side then dominated England (lead 2-1) in England with the final Test to be played next year. However, the team were beaten in the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) by New Zealand at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton.
Talking about Test cricket in general in 2021, former India batter Aakash Chopra on Monday named his Test team of the year. One of the biggest talking points from his XI were the exclusions of Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah among others.
Explaining the reason behind Kohli's exclusion, Chopra said that Virat has scored runs but he has not converted them into big scores in whatever cricket he has played so far in 2021.
"There's no Virat Kohli in this team. He has not scored much runs as far as 2021 is concerned. Although he missed the majority of Australia series, he didn't score much runs in other games as well," Chopra said in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel.
The cricketer-turned-commentator named four Indian players, two players each from Pakistan, England, New Zealand, and one player from Sri Lanka in his Test team of the year 2021.
Chopra also left out star India pacer Jasprit Bumrah while Australian pace spearhead and current Test skipper Pat Cummins, who had a brilliant 2021, also found no place in Chopra's team.
Kohli will lead India team in the upcoming three-match Test series against South Africa, starting from December 26.
Both teams will also play three ODIs after the Test series, but Rohit will lead India after being appointed as India's full-time white-ball captain, replacing Kohli.
Aakash Chopra Test Team: Rohit Sharma, Dimuth Karunaratne, Joe Root, Kane Williamson (c), Fawad Alam, Rishabh Pant (wk), Kyle Jamieson, Ravichandan Ashwin, Axar Patel, James Anderson, Shaheen Afridi