Ricky Ponting picks his Test team of the decade; Virat Kohli to lead

Following the ongoing trend, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, on Monday (December 30), announced his Test Team of the Decade. The two-time World Cup-winning captain, who recently made his debut on Twitter, took to the social media platform to reveal his star-studded team which has players from all the major cricket nations.

England, who dominated Tests at the start of the decade, have the most number of players in the team – four. Australia, on the other hand, have three players while India, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and South Africa have one player each in Ricky Ponting’s Test team of the decade.

David Warner pads up with Cook to open

Ricky Ponting went with his compatriot David Warner and ex-England captain Alastair Cook. Warner has been one of the best performing openers in Tests this decade and helped Australia beat the likes of India and England at home. Recently, he scored his first triple century in Tests which came against Pakistan.

Cook, on the other hand, retired from Tests last year as England’s highest run-scorer. Warner and Cook are followed by New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson who has scored more than 6,000 runs after making his Test debut in 2010. Australia batting mainstay Steve Smith is at number four. Smith remained on top of the ICC Test rankings for nearly two years before he was banned for a year in 2018.

He finished this year’s Ashes as the top run-scorer and also reclaimed the top spot in ICC Test Rankings for a while. World number one Test batsman Virat Kohli is at number five and is also the captain of the team. Under Virat Kohli, India have looked almost invincible at home and also won Test series in Australia in addition to winning Tests in England and South Africa.

Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara is the wicketkeeper-batsman in the team while Ben Stokes is the all-rounder. As far as bowling lineup is concerned, Ricky Ponting went with three pacers and one spinner. South Africa’s all-time leading wicket-taker Dale Steyn, England’s all-time top two leading wicket-taker James Anderson and Stuart Broad are the pacers in the team while Nathan Lyon is the only spinner.

Ricky Ponting’s Test Team of the Decade:

David Warner, Alastair Cook, Kane Williamson, Steve Smith, Virat Kohli (c), Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Ben Stokes, Dale Steyn, Nathan Lyon, Stuart Broad, James Anderson.

Everyone's picking teams of the decade so I thought I'd join in the fun. This would be my Test team of the 2010's:

David Warner
Alastair Cook
Kane Williamson
Steve Smith
Virat Kohli (c)
Kumar Sangakkarra (wk)
Ben Stokes
Dale Steyn
Nathan Lyon
Stuart Broad
James Anderson

— Ricky Ponting AO (@RickyPonting) December 30, 2019