New Delhi: The International Cricket Council (ICC), on Tuesday, announced the ODI team of the year for the year 2023, and the World Cup heroes from the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 dominated the list.
Notably, in the year 2023, a total of 221 ODI matches were played, with the ICC ODI World Cup winners, Australia and the runner-up India leading the chart.
Indian cricket team won the most number of matches in 2023, i.e., 27, followed by South Africa and Sri Lanka winning 16 matches each.
Interestingly, the World Cup winner, Australia, was number five with 14 total wins in 22 matches.
However, the list released by ICC heavily favoured the World Cup heroes, as the tournament was eventually the focal point of the year.
Check out the final ODI team of the year list released by ICC:
1] Rohit Sharma (C) (India)
The Indian skipper and star batsman Rohit Sharma has been awarded for his amazing year as a batsman and captain in the year 2023, as the hitman amassed a total of 1255 runs with an average of 52 and was also considered the best captain in the 2023 ODI World Cup despite falling short in the finals of the tournament.
2] Shubman Gill (India)
Shubman Gill, also called the prince of cricket in the year 2023, proved why he deserves a spot in the team, as the batsman amassed a total of 1584 runs in 29 matches with an impressive average of 63.36, which is the highest among all the players in the year of 2023.
3] Travis Head (Australia)
Despite only featuring in 13 ODI matches and scoring only 570 runs, Head’s inclusion in the list will not surprise anyone as he was a big reason behind Australia’s successful ODI World Cup campaign.
Head scored half century in the semifinals of the tournament against South Africa and also scored a magnificent century against India in the finals.
4] Virat Kohli (India)
If you are making a team of the year list and Virat Kohli is not present on the list, there has been something very wrong with the game of cricket in the past year.
Virat, who was under the radar for being out of form for quite sometime before the tournament, silenced his critics by becoming the player with the most runs in one single edition of the ODI World Cup while also securing the Player of the Tournament award.
5] Daryl Mitchell (New Zealand)
During the ODI World Cup 2023, when the Indian bowlers were running riots amongst the batting order of his opposition, Daryl Mitchell was the only man who made the life of the Indian bowlers tough.
Mitchell almost single-handedly took the Kiwis over the line in the semifinals against India before Shami’s beauty ended his valiant innings.
6] Heinrich Klaasen (WK) (South Africa)
In the year 2023, whenever the Protea’s batting order suffered a top-order collapse, Klaasen was their go-to man.
The wicket keeper batsmen amassed a total of 927 runs, in 24 matches, with the best score of 174, making him a worthy addition to the list.
7] Marco Jansen (South Africa)
The young South African player enjoyed a great year in 2023, as he proved himself to be a wicket-taking bowler and a reliable lower-order batsman.
To justify his selection, the young Proteas took 33 wickets in the calendar year of 2023 and was the best South African bowler.
8] Adam Zampa (Australia)
One of the biggest reasons behind Australia’s turn of fate during the 2023 ODI World Cup 2023 in India was Adam Zampa, as after going wicketless in the first two matches, Zampa finished the tournament with the second-highest wicket-taker, missing the top spot by just one wicket.
9] Kuldeep Yadav (India)
The highest ODI wicket-taker of 2023, Kuldeep Yadav, needs no explanation for his selection as the spinner scaled a total of 49 wickets in 2023 in just 30 matches to place himself successfully in the team of the year.
10] Md. Siraj (India)
The Indian pacer enjoyed his career-best year in 2023, as his fiery spell against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup 2023 final and against South Africa during the World Cup was more than enough to place him in the team of the year.
However, to give a strong statement, Siraj took a total of 44 wickets in 2023 and was the second-best bowler in the ODI in the year.
11] Md. Shami (India)
Despite playing a small number of matches in 2023, Shami made the most impact in the year 2023. Along with being the third-best ODI bowler in 2023, Shami was also the highest wicket-taker during the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 and is one of the most accurate names on the list.
