ICC announced their men’s Test, ODI and T20I teams of the decade as part of their ICC Awards of the Decade series, leaving out quite a few notable names from the list.

The period of qualification ran from January 1, 2011, to October 7, 2020, capturing some of world cricket’s most iconic performances of the decade. However, there were a few surprising misses too. Pakistan players, for one, were conspicuous by their absence; in a decade where they rose to the top of the Test and T20I rankings, not a single player from the country was included in any of the three teams.

ICC Test Team of the Decade

In 2016, Pakistan rose to the top of the Test rankings for the first time, but no player made it to the Test XI. The pace duo of Stuart Broad and James Anderson made it to the team, along with Alastair Cook and Ben Stokes, making England the most well-represented country in the side.

Your ICC Men's Test Team of the Decade 🏏

A line-up that could probably bat for a week! 💥 #ICCAwards pic.twitter.com/Kds4fMUAEG

— ICC (@ICC) December 27, 2020

Notable omissions

Younis Khan (Pakistan)

4,659 runs @54.17, 17 100s, HS: 218

At the centre of Pakistan’s rise to the top was Younis Khan’s stellar batting: in the qualification period, Younis averaged over 50, and hit four double-centuries, all of them coming in big wins. In 2016, he reached the second spot in ICC’s Test rankings for batsmen.

AB de Villiers (South Africa)

4,063 runs @54.17, 10 100s, HS: 169

De Villiers’ numbers across formats are brilliant, but he was especially prolific in Tests midway through the decade, enjoying the top spot in the ICC Test rankings in 2013 and 2014. In the period, only Steve Smith and Kumar Sangakkara had a better average than him among players who featured in as many or more Tests than de Villiers.

Joe Root (England)

7,823 runs @47.99, 17 100s, HS: 254

Root scored the most runs by any batsman in the period, but also played the joint-most matches by anyone in the period. The qualification period formed much of the first decade of his career, where he averaged close to 48 and hit three double centuries – only Cook hit more runs for England in the same time.

Nathan Lyon (Australia)

390 wickets @31.58, 18 five-fors, BBI: 8-50

Lyon has been prolific since arriving on the scene in 2011 – he’s currently third on Australia’s Test wicket-takers list, and also took the most wickets by a spinner in the decade. However, he was pipped by Ravichandran Ashwin as the lone tweaker in the team.

Rangana Herath (Sri Lanka)

355 wickets @26.30, 30 five-fors, BBI: 9-127

Sri Lanka’s spin behemoth was their most impactful bowler after Muttiah Muralitharan’s retirement. He picked up 30 five-wicket hauls in the decade, the most by any bowler, including a career-best of 9-127.

Questionable pick: Kumar Sangakkara

A Test great without a shadow of doubt, Sangakkara made it to this XI as a wicketkeeper, even though he did not keep in a single Test in the 2010s. There could have been a case New Zealand’s BJ Watling, who averaged over 40 and scored seven centuries in the period.

ICC ODI Team of the decade

The ODI team was possibly the most settled line-up among the three teams, with a good mix of batsmen and bowlers. Three players made it from India – Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni – the most from a single team.

The ICC Men's ODI Team of the Decade:

🇮🇳 🇮🇳 🇮🇳
🇦🇺 🇦🇺
🇿🇦 🇿🇦
🇧🇩
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
🇳🇿
🇱🇰 #ICCAwards pic.twitter.com/MueFAfS7sK

— ICC (@ICC) December 27, 2020

Notable omissions

Hashim Amla (South Africa)

6,207 runs @47.02, 21 100s, HS: 159

His strokeplay might not be as powerful as the rest of the lot, but Amla scored runs aplenty in the one-day format. The third-highest run-getter in the period, Amla hit four scores of 150+ in the decade and consistently topped the ICC ranking charts for batting.

Ross Taylor (New Zealand)

5,950 runs @57.76, 18 100s, HS: 181*

New Zealand’s most successful one-day batsman couldn’t find a spot in the team; only Virat Kohli scored more runs at a better average than him in the period.

Jos Buttler (England)

3,855 runs @39.74, 9 100s, HS: 150

The wicketkeeper-batsman is said to have revolutionised white-ball batting, but he couldn’t earn a spot in the team. Among all wicket-keepers with 3,000+ ODI runs, Buttler had the best strike-rate, but couldn’t find a place ahead of MS Dhoni, the captain of the side.

Rashid Khan (Afghanistan)

133 wickets @18.54, five-fors: 4, BBI-7-18

Rashid Khan featured in just one-half of the decade, but was an imposing figure in the five-year window, picking up wickets at a better average than any bowler with at least 100 wickets in the qualification period.

ICC T20I Team of the decade

The T20I team’s balance seems off: Kieron Pollard is slotted as low as No.8, and there’s no fifth bowler, with Pollard and Glenn Maxwell expected to share four overs between them (unless Chris Gayle chips in too). Once again, there was no player from Pakistan, the highest-ranked T20I team until earlier this year.

The ICC Men's T20I Team of the Decade. And what a team it is! ⭐

A whole lot of 6️⃣-hitters in that XI! pic.twitter.com/AyNDlHtV71

— ICC (@ICC) December 27, 2020

Notable omissions

Colin Munro (New Zealand)

1,724 runs @31.34, SR: 156.44, HS: 109*

New Zealand’s batting powerhouse has hit three T20I centuries so far, one of only three batsmen to hit as many in the format. He is also one of only three batsmen to hit over 100 T20I sixes in the period. Among openers with at least 20 matches in the period, he has the highest strike-rate (160.65 in 33 innings).

Babar Azam (Pakistan)

1,548 runs @49.93, SR: 127.93, HS: 97*

One of the biggest omissions across formats, Babar Azam first reached the top of the T20I batting rankings in 2018 and has been in and around the top spot ever since. He featured in only four years during the decade but rapidly rose in stature in the format, scoring 14 fifties (the sixth-highest in the period), averaging just a shade under 50.

Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh)

75 wickets @20.88, five-fors: 1, BBI: 5-20; 1,360 runs @26.15, SR: 125.80, HS: 84

Shakib could have made it as one of the all-rounders in the team; during the period, he took the second-most wickets with two four-wicket hauls. With the bat, he scored nine fifties.

Marlon Samuels (West Indies)

1,480 runs @30.20, SR: 112.80, HS: 89*

Samuels didn’t really top the run-charts through the decade, but impact-wise was one of West Indies’ stand out performers in the decade. Two of his nine T20I fifties in the period came as Player of the Match performances in the men’s T20 World Cup finals of 2012 and 2016.

Questionable pick: MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni’s selection surprised many, not just as the team’s captain but as the wicketkeeper in the line-up. One of the all-time ODI greats, Dhoni wasn’t perhaps as successful in the T20I format. While Dhoni’s average was impressive, wicketkeepers Mohammad Shahzad, Jos Buttler and Quinton de Kock all scored more runs than him at a better strike-rate.