Wisden's 2023-25 World Test Championship team of the tournament

Aiden Markram

708 runs at 37.26, 2 hundreds, 3 fifties, HS: 136

Markram played arguably two of the best knocks of the cycle: a third-innings 106 off 103 balls on a treacherous Cape Town surface that resulted in the shortest Test ever, and a title-clinching fourth-innings ton in the WTC final against Australia that gave South Africa cricket their biggest achievement ever.

He had close competition with Usman Khawaja, who was the fifth-highest run-scorer in the cycle and averaged 39.66, but Markram's effort in the final give him the nod over his Australian counterpart, who made 0 and 6 in the final.

Yashasvi Jaiswal

1798 runs at 52.88, 4 hundreds, 10 fifties, HS: 214*

India’s batting fulcrum in this cycle, Jaiswal has taken to Test cricket like a duck to water. The matches against England at home in which he scored 712 runs at an average of 89 – the third-most by an India batter in a Test series – were particularly memorable. In 2024, the southpaw hit 36 sixes, the most in a calendar year ever, eclipsing Brendon McCullum's tally of 33 sixes in 2014. With 1,478 at 54.74, he also recorded the second-best tally by an India batter in a calendar year.

While India are undergoing a transition, Jaiswal is one youngster they can pin their hopes on.

First Test - won by an innings and 242 runs ✅
Second Test - won by 9 wickets ✅

Australia cruise past Sri Lanka with a dominant win, sealing the Test series and finishing second place on the WTC points table.

Check the latest standings here ➡️ https://t.co/DS6j5Stilv pic.twitter.com/1vbH6HUzyk

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) February 9, 2025

Joe Root

1968 runs at 54.66, 7 hundreds, 7 fifties, HS: 262

One of the few positives in England's wretched campaign. For the second consecutive edition, Root finished as the leading run-getter of the cycle. No other batter in the history of the tournament has scored more runs than the English talisman.

Temba Bavuma (c)

711 runs at 59.25, 2 hundreds, 5 fifties, HS: 113

Apart from being the title-winning captain and an inspirational leader, Bavuma also had the second-highest average among players with at least 250 runs in the cycle. He made two hundreds, against Sri Lanka and Pakistan at home, but his knock of 66 in the run-chase at Lord's in the WTC final that was the highlight of his campaign. Bavuma has now also gone ten Test matches without being defeated as captain, winning nine of those, making it the greatest captaincy start ever in Test history.

Kamindu Mendis

1123 runs at 62.38, 5 hundreds, 3 fifties, HS: 182*

A rapid start to his Test career saw Kamindu Mendis hit his fifth ton in only his 13th innings, equalling Don Bradman in reaching the landmark. Everton Weekes (10), Herbert Sutcliffe (12) and Neil Harvey (12) are ahead of them on the all-time list. He also became the quickest in 75 years to reach 1,000 Test runs and the fastest Asian batter to do so in the overall list.

Ravindra Jadeja

664 runs at 22.80, 1 hundred, 4 fifties, HS: 112 | 55 wickets at 23.43, BBI: 5-41, 5WIs: 3

Jadeja continued to showcase his range as a Test player. A gritty 112 followed by 2-51 and 5-41 against England in Rajkot was arguably his most significant all-round effort. Another knock that deserves a mention is the hard-fought 77 in Brisbane that helped India to avoid follow-on in the Border-Gavaskar trophy. Jadeja is also the only frontline spinner in here and his numbers back the inclusion.

Alex Carey (wk)

1020 runs at 35.17, 1 hundred, 5 fifties, HS: 156 | Ct: 82, St: 16

A dismissal per innings ratio of 2.512 (the best among keepers who kept for five innings or more) is a testament to his improvement in glovework. The unbeaten 98 in Christchurch against New Zealand last year was his highlight with the bat. It helped Australia recover from 80-5 and chase 279 in the fourth innings. Against Sri Lanka recently, he capped off with 156, surpassing Adam Gilchrist's record of the highest score by an Australia wicketkeeper in Asia.

Pat Cummins

80 wickets at 23.48, BBI: 6-28, 5WIs: 6

Cummins led from the front in every department to finish as the highest wicket-taker of the cycle and take his team to yet another final. There were contributions with the bat as well – 44 not out in the Ashes opener, 32 not out in crisis to support Carey's rescue act in Christchurch; and 49 and 41 in Australia’s victory against India in Melbourne. With the ball, he reserved his best for the last - dismantling South Africa with 6-28 in the first innings at Lord's.

Kagiso Rabada

56 wickets at 18.73, BBI: 6-46, 5WIs: 4

Barring the home series against India, South Africa's toughest outing was expected to be the Bangladesh tour. They passed with flying colours with Rabada being at the forefront of their 2-0 clean-sweep. His 14 wickets across the two Tests earned him the Player of the Series. In the same tour, he became the quickest to 300 Test wickets in terms of balls bowled, doing so with his 11,818th delivery in Test cricket.

He then had a memorable final, taking 5-51 in the first innings and 4-59 in the second to win his side the trophy.

Matt Henry

48 wickets at 18.58, BBI: 7-67, 5WIs: 3

Having finally risen from the shadows of Tim Southee and Trent Boult, Henry has successfully fulfilled the role of New Zealand's lead seamer for quite some time now. He finished the cycle with the most wickets for New Zealand – 48 wickets at 18.58 – all of them in 2024.

Jasprit Bumrah

77 wickets at 15.09, BBI: 6-45, 5WIs: 5

Of all the wickets, 71 came last year at an absurd average of 14.92 while striking every 30.1 balls. No bowler in the history of Test cricket has taken that many wickets at a better average and a strike rate. He is also the only bowler in history to get to 200 Test wickets at a sub-20 average.