England all-rounder Ben Stokes and Australia's Ellyse Perry were named the Leading Cricketers of 2019 by Wisden Almanack. Stokes had a successful 2019 and was instrumental in England winning its first-ever ODI World Cup. The all-rounder played a key part in the final held at Lord's, which the hosts won on boundary count. The New Zealand-born cricketer also slammed a match-winning century in the Headingley Test during the Ashes as England registered a comeback win.
Laxman felt that Rohit, who was the leading run-scorer in the ODIs in 2019, deserved to be there in the list.
Wisden Cricketers of the year 2020: Ben Stokes, Ellyse Perry bag top honours; full list of winners
The elegant former middle-order batsman said Star Sports 1 show Cricket Connected: "I think anyone who follows the game of cricket will be surprised and shocked not to see Rohit Sharma's name in those five players list."
"Because yes, The Ashes is an important series, the World Cup is bigger than Ashes. And someone who has scored five hundreds; remember the first hundred was on a tough wicket in Southampton against South Africa and none of the other batsmen got runs," elaborated Laxman, a veteran of 134 Tests.
Wisden apart from Perry, named Pat Cummins, Marnus Labuschagne, Jofra Archer and Simon Harmer as the Five Cricketers of the Year. West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell was named the T20 Leading Cricketer of 2019.
"And he (Rohit) played another important knock against Pakistan. I am really shocked and surprised, and every cricketer will be shocked and surprised by this announcement from Wisden," Laxman signed off.