Ranking top 10 Test cricketers of the year

In 2021, Test cricket flourished like never before. The first edition of the World Test Championship, a tournament that ICC had plans to host for a long time, came to end this year. New Zealand defeated India in the final to become the inaugural champions. As the second edition of the tournament is currently underway, some matches have already been played and teams are earning points due to their performance. As a result, the quality of matches has improved. A number of players had a wonderful 2021 as they were able to achieve some personal milestones. Here are the- Top 10 Test cricketers of 2021 10. Kyle Mayers Kyle Mayers. (Photo by MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP via Getty Images) Kyle Mayers has had a memorable debut this year against Bangladesh in February. He helped West Indies chase a target of 395 runs in the fourth innings of a game after he made 210 runs off 310 balls. It became the highest successful chase in Asia, and his score became the second-highest by a West Indian. Myers became only the first player to score a double-century on debut since 2003. Mayers has made 636 runs in ten Test matches at an average of 35.33. He has scored the second-highest runs for West Indies this year. Mayers made two half-centuries this year. Both of them have come against Sri Lanka. He made 201 runs in two matches at an average of 50.25. 9. Ollie Robinson Ollie Robinson. (Photo by Philip Brown/Popperfoto/Popperfoto via Getty Images) Ollie Robinson is the joint-highest wicket-taker for England in 2021. He has picked 35 wickets in seven matches at an average of 20.54. Robinson made his Test debut against New Zealand at Lord’s on June 2. He had an impressive run against the eventual World Test Champions as he picked seven wickets in total in the match. However, ECB suspended him from playing cricket after his old racist and sexist tweets resurfaced on the internet. ECB later included him in England’s squad against India. He picked the first five-wicket haul of his career in the first innings of the Nottingham Test. Robinson took 21 wickets in four matches at an average of 21.33 and was the leading wicket-taker in the series. 8. James Anderson James Anderson. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images) James Anderson is a veteran who is still going strong in Test cricket. This year, he has picked 35 wickets in 11 matches at an average of 23.28. He has taken a five-wicket haul twice this year. His best performance happened against India during the home series. He picked 15 wickets in four matches at an average of 24.67. In the ongoing Ashes, England didn’t pick him up in the first Test but included him in the second game. He managed to pick three wickets in total in that game. Anderson has picked 635 wickets in 167 matches at an average of 26.60. He is the third-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket. During the first Test of India’s tour to England, Anderson dismissed KL Rahul to surpass Anil Kumble’s tally of 619 wickets. 7. Marnus Labuschagne Marnus Labuschagne. (Photo by Peter Mundy/Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Marnus Labuschagne is the number one batter in ICC Rankings currently with 912 rating points. Labuschagne has had a great Test career ever since he replaced Steven Smith in the second Ashes Test of 2019. He made 525 runs in four matches at an average of 75. His tally contains two centuries and four half-centuries. He has made a half-century in each of his innings apart from two innings against India and England. In the first Ashes Test, he made 74 runs in the first innings and followed it by a century in the second Test. Labuschagne won the player of the match award during the second Test after he made a score of 103 and 51 in the first and the second innings, respectively. 6. Axar Patel Axar Patel. (Photo Source: Twitter/BCCI) Axar Patel has had one of the standout performances this year. Patel made his debut on February 13 against England. Since then, he went on to pick 36 wickets in five matches including five fifers. Patel picked two wickets in the first innings and picked a five-wicket haul in the second innings. India won the match by 317 runs. In the third Test of the series, Axar picked a total of 11 wickets and won the player of the match award. He finished the series with 27 wickets across his name in three matches at an average of 10.59. During New Zealand’s tour of India, Axar picked nine wickets in two matches that included a fifer. Axar picked 30 wickets in the first four Tests, which is the second-highest among all the Indian bowlers. 5. Rohit Sharma Rohit Sharma. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Rohit Sharma is the leading run-scorer in Test cricket for India in 2021. He has scored 906 runs in 11 matches at an average of 47.68. Rohit scored two centuries this year, both of which have come against England. During the second Test of England tour of India, Rohit made 161 runs off 231 balls in the first innings. His innings helped India put a score of 329 runs in the first innings and win the match by 317 runs. During India’s tour of England, Rohit made 127 runs in the second innings to put a target of 367 runs for England to win the match. England could make only 210 runs and gave India a lead of 2-1 in the series. Rohit was India’s leading run-scorer on that tour as he made 368 runs in four matches at an average of 52.57. 4. Dimuth Karunaratne Dimuth Karunaratne. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Dimuth Karunaratne has scored 902 runs in just seven matches at an average of 55.74. His average is highest among all the openers who have made over 500 runs in 2021. He has scored four centuries this year, which is the second-highest. His highest score of 244 runs came against Bangladesh during the first Test of Bangladesh’s tour to Sri Lanka. He, along with Dhananjaya de Silva crafted a partnership of 345 runs for the fourth wicket. This was not only his highest score, but it was also the highest individual score by a Sri Lankan batter since 2014. He has been leading the batting charts for Sri Lanka since 2017 when he made 1031 runs in 13 matches that year. In the first Test against West Indies in November, Karunaratne made 147 runs off 300 balls and batted for over 400 minutes. 3. Shaheen Afridi Pakistan’s Shaheen Shah Afridi (C) celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Bangladesh’s Liton Das (not pictured) on the fourth day of the first Test Shaheen Afridi. (Photo by MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP via Getty Images) Shaheen Afridi, who is the number three bowler in ICC Rankings also had a pretty great year. He has taken 47 wickets in nine matches at an average of 17.06 and has picked five-wicket hauls thrice. He has picked the second-most number of wickets in Test cricket this year. The 21-years-old’s Test career is only 21 matches old. He improved a lot this year and his tally of wickets is the proof of that. In the last three years, he picked 39 wickets in 12 matches. At the end of 2020, Afridi was placed in the 32nd position in the ICC Rankings with 481 rating points. He has gathered 822 points this year and achieved his highest Test ranking. 2. Ravichandran Ashwin Ravichandran Ashwin. (Photo Source: Twitter/BCCI) Ravichandran Ashwin has picked most wickets in 2021. He has taken 52 wickets in eight matches at an average of 16.23. Ashwin has taken three fifers in Test cricket in 2021. During the first Test against New Zealand, he became the third-highest wicket-taker for India in Test cricket surpassing Harbhajan Singh. Ashwin has taken 427 wickets in 81 Test matches at an average of 24.12. Muttiah Muralitharan, who has picked the most wickets in Test cricket believes that Ashwin is the only bowler in world cricket right now who can break his record. Ashwin became the leading wicket-taker this year despite missing the four Test matches against England during India’s tour. 1. Joe Root Joe Root. (Photo by Philip Brown/Popperfoto/Popperfoto via Getty Images) Joe Root will be finishing this year as the leading run-scorer. He has made 1630 runs in 14 matches at an average of 62.69. With Australia and England going against each other in the Boxing Day Test, Root has a chance to break the record for most runs in a calendar year. Mohammad Yousuf made 1788 runs in 11 matches in 2006. Root has made six centuries this year, including the highest score of 228 runs that came against Sri Lanka in the very first Test of the year. When England came to India in February, Root made 218 runs in the first Test and helped the team win the match by 227 runs. Apart from the two-match series against New Zealand and the ongoing Ashes, Root made at least one century in each series. During India’s tour of England, he made 564 runs in four matches, including three centuries.