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: Virat Kohli. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images) 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. 2. Joe Root – England: England captain Joe Root. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images) Apart from the fact that Joe Root has led England to some big series wins at home and abroad, the 27-year-old right-hand batsman also had a successful individual run in 2018. Ranked No. 4 in Test batsmen’s list, Root scored 946 runs in 24 innings during the year at an average of 41 plus with three hundreds – two of which saw England winning – against India and Sri Lanka. In terms of run aggregation, the England captain ended third to Kohli and Sri Lanka’s Kushal Mendis in 2018. Root paired his good run with the bat with impressive captaincy also. Under his leadership, England thumped India 4-1 at home and Sri Lanka 3-0 in their den, winning a Test series in the island nation after 18 years. Root though has had his critics for not being able to convert fifties into hundreds as much England would have loved to see him despite being a top order batsman but the England captain has scored consistently nevertheless. The year 2018 was his second best after 2017 in terms of scoring runs in a calendar year. He scored 983 runs last year. 3. Aiden Markram – South Africa: Aiden Markram of the Proteas. (Photo by Lee Warren/Gallo Images/Getty Images) The first South African ever to lead a team to win a World Cup at any level, 24-year-old Aiden Markram has come of age quite fast and is one of the major pillars of the Proteas batting order. Though his opening partner Dean Elgar is ranked three places ahead of him (ranked 11th) in the ICC’s list of best Test batsmen at the moment, Markram still had a productive 2018 with over 670 runs in 10 matches with two magnificent hundreds (143 and 152) scored at home against the Australians in the infamous series early this year. The transformation of Markram, from a successful U19 captain to scorer of Test hundred within just three years time, is phenomenal. In the first two years in Test cricket, the young opener has not only picked four hundreds but has also shown his mettle in a number of games, giving the Proteas enough hope of emerging as a true successor to the likes of Gary Kirsten and Graeme Smith. Markram has shown a rock-solid temperament in his batting which guarantees a long way up for him in the longer format in the years to come. 4. Kane Williamson – New Zealand: Kane Williamson. (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images) 2018 was a good year for Kane Williamson not only as a batsman but also as the captain of the New Zealand side, currently ranked fourth in the ICC’s list. The 28-year-old talented batsman hit over 650 runs in 12 innings in 2018. Williamson hit two hundreds this year and both helped New Zealand win matches and series – against England and Pakistan, respectively. His score of 139 scored in Abu Dhabi against Pakistan saw the Kiwis beat the Asians in an away series for the first time in nearly five decades. With 5,815 runs and 19 tons in Tests, Williamson is now ranked the world’s second best batsman, next only to Kohli. 5. Usman Khawaja – Australia: Usman Khawaja. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images) The No.5 Test team is going through a dark phase both on and off the field since the sandpaper scandal and has struggled against almost every opponent this year. The Baggy Greens have tried all and sundry since Smith and Warner were banned and among the little success their batsmen have tasted at an individual level, Usman Khawaja can claim a major share of it. Ranked 12th and behind Smith and Warner, he is the top-ranked Australian player who is active at the moment and had a fairly decent 2018 with two big hundreds. While his 171 against England in Sydney saw Australia register a thumping win, the 141 he scored against Pakistan in Dubai helped Australia save the game valiantly. The Pakistan-born batsman had an injury scare during the Pakistan series but returned in the Tests versus India. He has scored over 670 runs in 2018. 6. Kushal Mendis – Sri Lanka: Kusal Mendis. (Photo Source: Twitter) With 956 runs in 12 matches and 22 innings at an average of 45 plus, Sri Lankan batsman Kusal Mendis has had a great 2018, only the fourth year since his debut in the longer format. Even though Sri Lanka as a team hasn’t done well of late, the outgoing year has been 23-year-old Mendis’ most successful so far. The right-handed batsman hit three hundreds in Tests this year – all in away series with the latest of unbeaten 141 to save a game in New Zealand as particularly special. Dimuth Karunaratne is another Sri Lankan batsman who has had a good 2018 with 743 runs and is placed 11 places ahead of Mendis, yet it is the latter’s show abroad which makes our favourite of the year. 7. Babar Azam – Pakistan: Babar Azam. (Photo Source: Twitter) Pakistan have had an ordinary 2018 as a Test side and of their players, a few stood out and one of them being Babar Azam. The 24-year-old Lahore batsman though is ranked 36 in ICC’s list of Test batsmen, but he has been one of Pakistan’s most prominent scorers this year with 616 runs that include one unbeaten hundred against New Zealand and six fifties (of them, one is a 99 scored against Australia in Abu Dhabi). He stood tall among the ruins of Pakistan batting in the first Test against South Africa at Centurion on Boxing Day. It certainly took some time for Azam, who made his Test debut in 2016, to score his first hundred in the longer format but he has nonetheless made his mark in the grand arena in 2018. 8. Mominul Haque – Bangladesh: Mominul Haque. (Photo Source: Twitter) Even though he is not the highest-ranked batsman for Bangladesh in Tests in 2018, 27-year-old Mominul Haque had a remarkable show with the willow in the outgoing year. He gathered 673 runs in eight matches and 15 innings at an average of nearly 45 and hit four hundreds during the year, including two in one Test against Sri Lanka in January, finishing only after Kohli who has five. His other two hundreds came against Zimbabwe and Windies and all four were scored at home. This has been the best year in Mominul’s Test career which started in 2013. He is the sixth highest run-getter for Bangladesh in Tests and his country’s best batsman in terms of average which is above 44 and it makes him one of the Tigers’ prime middle-order batsmen. Though he is yet to become the top-ranked batsman in Tests from Bangladesh, his performance in 2018 saw him leaping 11 spots to the 24th rank in the ICC’s list. He is ranked 27th at the moment, three places behind captain Shakib Al Hasan. Get the latest Cricket News and all the Cricket in 2018 articles, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.

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Cricket in 2018: Team wise top batsman in Tests

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.

7. Babar Azam – Pakistan:

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