James Anderson, Stuart Broad, David Warner, Dean Elgar, Neil Wagner, and Moeen Ali are gone; Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, and Mushfiqur Rahim may or may not play Test cricket again; but the ever-evolving medical science has ensured that there are enough top-quality 35-year-olds playing Test cricket despite the demands of the three formats.
All numbers are from January 1, 2023 to August 8, 2024 irrespective of age. The XI does not include the likes of Steve Smith, who has not played since their 35th birthday.
Wisden's over-35 World Test XI
Rohit Sharma (c): 14 Tests | 1,000 runs @ 43.47 | 100s: 4
The Indian Test captain may be 37, but he has been in excellent form for some time now, with two hundreds against England earlier this year. Barring the WTC 2021-23 final, India have not lost a Test series with Rohit at the helm: he will lead this side.
Usman Khawaja: 18 Tests | 1,484 runs @ 46.37 | 100s: 3
No one – irrespective of age – has amassed as many runs since the start of 2023 as Khawaja. With runs by the hundreds in India and England in 2023, Khawaja – four months older than Rohit – seems to be getting better with age.
Dimuth Karunaratne: 9 Tests | 876 runs @ 58.40 | 100s: 2
The Sri Lankan Test side has tailed off of late, but that has been despite Karunaratne, their former captain, not because of him. That he has played only 91 Tests across a career approaching 13 years is testimony to how little Test cricket Sri Lanka play.
Virat Kohli: 9 Tests | 729 runs @ 52.07 | 100s: 2
Despite missing the entire England series, Kohli has the fourth-most runs among Indian Test cricketers since the start of 2023; and among the three batters above him, only Yashasvi Jaiswal has a better average. There are still a few thousand runs left in him.
Also read: Wisden’s all-time over-35 Test XI
Angelo Mathews: 9 Tests | 655 runs @ 50.38 | 100s: 3
The ageless former Sri Lankan captain continues to score runs at Test cricket, though, like Karunaratne, his Test career has been impacted by Sri Lanka’s sporadic appearances.
Ravindra Jadeja: 12 Tests | 513 runs @ 34.20 | 100s: 1 | 52 wickets @ 21.46 | 5WIs: 3
Who better than the only Test cricketer with 500 runs and 50 wickets since January 1, 2023 for the all-rounder’s slot? If Jadeja’s bowling record is astonishing, the batting average is very close to the 36.14 he has across his career. The fielding is a bonus.
Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk): 4 Tests | 235 runs @ 39.16 | 100s: 1 | C: 13, St: 1
Mushfiqur has not played Test cricket since turning 35, which makes Sarfaraz an automatic choice. He leapfrogged Mohammad Rizwan to make it to the Test XI, was dropped after the Perth Test match of 2022/23, but has been recalled for the Bangladesh series at home.
R Ashwin: 12 Tests | 266 runs @ 17.73 | 67 wickets @ 20.04 | 5WIs: 6
Over the period mentioned above, Ashwin has an even better bowling average than Jadeja, his partner-in-crime, and has more five-wicket hauls than anyone else in the world. The batting is tailing off a bit, but it is still okay for a No.8.
Tim Southee (vc): 11 Tests | 243 runs @ 15.18 | 30 wickets @ 36.20 | 5WIs: 1
Age is catching up on the New Zealand Test captain, but he is one of the very few fast bowlers of his age still going strong at international level – that too across all three formats. The second-highest Test wicket-taker in New Zealand history is also 12 short of being the fourth to hit a hundred Test sixes.
Nathan Lyon: 15 Tests | 72 wickets @ 22.34 | 5WIs: 3
A third spinner and a second off-spinner may seem overkill, but despite missing most of last year’s Ashes, Lyon is the highest wicket-taker in the world since the start of 2023. He will keep spinners ten or more years younger to him out of the Test side for some more time.
Kemar Roach: 8 Tests | 17 wickets @ 36.05 | 5WIs: 1
Had he been a West Indian fast bowler between the 1970s and 1990s, Roach would probably have had fewer Tests and wickets but at better average and strike rate. It is probably an acceptable trade-off, for he sits at fifth place in the West Indies’s all-time list of wicket-takers.
12th: Shakib Al Hasan: 2 Tests | 138 runs @ 46.00 | 6 wickets @ 30.50
Had Shakib played more Test cricket, he would have come into the side – but he has added only two to his Test caps since December 2022. If anyone of the XI has to sit out – an inevitable prospect, given the criterion of this team – there can hardly be a better replacement.
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