Cricket in 2018: Team wise top batsman in Tests

As the year 2018 draws to its close, it’s time to take a look back at all the big names that excelled in the Test arena this year. A number of top players made it a milestone year in their respective careers – the likes of Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Cheteshwar Pujara, and of late even Tom Latham produced memorable performances even in conditions that were not best cut to their preference.

We should also spare a thought for two Australian cricketers – achievers in their own rights – Steve Smith and David Warner who missed international cricket for the most part of 2018 after facing a ban because of their involvement in ball-tampering in a series in South Africa in March. Smith was the No.1 batsman in Tests but his ban saw him getting overtaken by Kohli and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson, who also had a good year with some memorable knocks.

Pujara played some great knocks overseas as well — in England and Australia — picking up three hundreds. Usman Khawaja also had a productive year, hitting two big hundreds against England and Pakistan with the second one as an opener.

That apart, there have been several high points of individual brilliance in Test cricket and we take a look at some of the top batsmen who delivered in 2018. We will go by the teams as per their ranks in Tests:

1. Virat Kohli – India:

The captain of India, the No.1 Test team in the world, Virat Kohli is also the No.1 Test batsman at the moment. The year 2018 saw the ace batsman breaching the 1,000-run mark for the third consecutive year and he has scored five hundreds in 2018 as he had in the previous calendar year.

Staying ahead of the second-best batsman in the list Kane Williamson of New Zealand by 19 points, Kohli had fabulous overseas tours in South Africa and England in 2018 and scored hundreds in all the four Test series India played this year against South Africa, England, Windies and Australia. However, of the five Test hundreds, India could win on only two occasions. Kohli has scored over 1,300 runs in 2018, bettering his previous best of 1,215 in 2016 though he hit no double hundred this year.