Ashwin, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel in Australia's Test XI of 2021

Melbourne, December 31: India opening batsman Rohit Sharma, spinners R Ashwin, Axar Patel, and wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant are four Indians who have been named in Cricket.com.au's Test team of the year 2021.

Cricket.com.au selected Rohit as the opening batter. Having dominated white-ball cricket and his home conditions for years, Rohit Sharma conquered his final frontier this year by showing he can score big Test runs outside of Asia.

And a strong 2021 that saw him finish behind only Joe Root for most runs could have been even better if the classy right-hander had translated multiple strong starts into big hundreds.

Rishabh Pant was named as the wicketkeeper. His numbers would look considerably better if he'd been able to turn scores of 97 (in Sydney), 89 not out (in Brisbane) and 91 (in Chennai) into hundreds.

The way he dismantled Australia and England at the start of the year rightfully earned him comparisons with the great Adam Gilchrist.

Ashwin and Axar Patel have scalped 54 and 36 wickets, with an average of 16.64 and 11.86, respectively this year.

Australia's Marnus Marnus Labuschagne was the lone player from the national side who was included in the list.

It was a big reward for India’s consistent show in Test cricket in 2021.

The Indian team dominated the Centurion Test right from the word go with skipper Virat Kohli winning the toss and electing to bat first and India went on to score 327 runs in the first innings which helped them take 130 runs lead.

Despite Day 2 being completely washed out due to rain Virat Kohli and company managed to wrap up the Test match with more than one and a half sessions to spare on day-5.

"Yes, we can see this Indian team winning the Test series 3-0 because South Africa's batting is not looking that great. Only Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock can chip in but if all the pressure is on these three then the team can't win because Indian bowling is very strong.

“It is due to rain that the match got over on the fifth day otherwise you will see matches getting over in 3 or 4 days," said former India cricketer and former selector Sarandeep Singh.

The Indian team went on to win their first-ever Test at the SuperSport Park in Centurion and Virat Kohli became the first Indian captain to win two Test matches in South Africa.

His first win as a captain came at the Wanderers in Johannesburg. One of the main architects of the Indian win have been the fast bowlers with Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj bowling out the Proteas for less than 200 in both innings.

"Yes, it is big news. I think this is the first Asian team to win in Centurion. A big congratulations to Rahul Dravid on his first win as coach in SA.

“It is very difficult to beat SA in their country. It is a huge moment for the Indian cricket team. The way Virat Kohli handled the side and the way our fast bowlers bowled especially Mohammed Shami.

“Jasprit Bumrah got an ankle injury but he came back and bowled well and surprise package Mohammed Siraj. We all talk about batters but look at our fast bowlers.

“It was a combined effort by the Indian team. SA bowlers bowled well but look at our bowlers. Credit goes to Ravi Shastri also and now the team is under Rahul Dravid.

“Even Bharat Arun deserves credit for fast bowlers. The way he worked with them for 4-5 years," Sarandeep Singh told ANI.

Cricket Australia Test XI of 2021: Rohit Sharma, Dimuth Karunaratne (Captain), Marnus Labuschagne, Joe Root, Fawad Alam, Rishabh Pant (wk), R Ashwin, Kyle Jamieson, Axar Patel, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi.