Virat Kohli is captain of Glenn McGrath's Test Team of 2016; Ashwin second Indian in the list

New Delhi, Dec 29: Legendary Australia bowler Glenn McGrath has chosen his Test Team of the year 2016 and without any surprises India's Test skipper Virat Kohli has been named the captain of the 12-member squad.

R Ashwin, Virat Kohli in Cricket Australia's Test Team of the year

McGrath also added World's No. 1 bowler Ravichandran Ashwin in his squad of 12, that also included three Australian players.

In an exclusive interview to cricket.com.au, McGrath named four English cricketers in his side, and claimed his selections were based on a lot more than just raw statistics.

Pidge, that he's fondly called, put Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah at number 11 and kept England's Stuart Broad as the 12th man.

"I haven't picked it just on stats alone," he said. "Stats are important, but it's all about attitude, the way you hold yourself in the game, and the effect you can have on the game.

"To me that's probably more important than stats. But if you've got both, you've got the perfect cricketer, the perfect team and I'm happy with this team."

Both Kohli and Ashwin were part of Cricket Australia's Test team of the year, which was led by the Indian skipper as well. While Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah featured in the board's ODI Team of the year. Kohli was named the skipper of the ODI team as well.

(Virat Kohli named ODI skipper of Cricket Australia's Team of the year)

Kohli has been in terrific form in the year 2016. The 28-year-old aggressive batsman accumulated 1,215 runs in the 12 Tests and went on slamming three double centuries (4 centuries) by the end of 2016. His Test average is a whopping 75.93 in 2016.

Speaking about Kohli's performance and his views he said, "Virat Kohli is probably one of, if not the best batsman in the world at the moment. He's a quality player and I like his attitude and his aggression. He doesn't back down and he also has the ability to back it up. And I think when he's captain, it really lifts his game and I think he's do very well captaining this team."

Commenting upon Ashwin, the legendary bowler said Indian off-spinner rightly deserved winning the ICC Cricketer of the year and Test Cricketer of the year award.

"Ravi Ashwin was named the ICC Test Player of the Year; he played 12 Test matches for India and took 72 wickets, so a very well deserved winner of that title. And he scored some very, very handy runs as well," added McGrath.

Here's Glenn McGrath's Test Team of 2016:

1. David Warner (Aus)

2. Joe Root (Eng)

3. Virat Kohli (Captain) (Ind)

4. Steve Smith (Aus)

5. Kane Williamson (NZ)

6. Jonny Bairstow (Wicketkeeper) (Eng)

7. Ben Stokes (Eng)

8. Ravichandran Ashwin (Ind)

9. Mitchell Starc (Aus)

10. Kagiso Rabada (SA)

11. Yasir Shah (Pak)

12. Stuart Broad (Eng)

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