World Test Championship: Five teams who have used the most players
India used a total of 20 players during their historic series triumph in Australia which includes five of them making their Test debut. Among the remaining players, 14 of them had already featured in at least one game during the World Test championship. The first edition of the WTC has witnessed many teams use the services of a lot of players and the number might increase in the next few months. These teams which used most number of players in the World Test Championship:
England – 21 players in 16 Tests:
England played as many as 16 matches in the World Test championship but had used only 21 players which is quite less compared to other teams. Across those 16 Test matches, the English team handed a debut to two players including one to Daniel Lawrence in the recent Test win over Sri Lanka.
New Zealand – 21 players in 11 Tests:
New Zealand’s home dominance was one of the main reasons for their success in the World Test championship. Despite having a core group, injuries and availability of the players made them play 21 players in 11 Test matches. Four of those 21 players were making their debut in the longer format. One of those debutants was Kyle Jamieson who is expected to play a crucial role for the Blackcaps in future with his all-round skills.
Sri Lanka – 21 players in 7 Tests:
Sri Lanka being part of this list won’t be a surprise to many given the way they have rotated players in recent years. As many as 21 players appeared for Sri Lanka in seven matches in the World Test Championship which includes 3 debutants.
India – 23 players in 13 Tests:
India had utilized the services of 23 players across 13 WTC Test matches of which 20 were part of the Australian tour. Ishant Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem and KL Rahul are the other guys who didn’t play a game in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but appeared in the Test championship.
Big day for Shahbaz Nadeem as he is all set to make his Test debut ???? #TeamIndia #INDvSA @Paytm pic.twitter.com/3hfYTaVyDL
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 19, 2019
Among those 23 players, a total of six did make their Test debut in this competition including five of them in the Australian tour. The other debutant for India in this period was Shahbaz Nadeem who joined the team only 14 hours before the Test match to be played at his home ground in Ranchi.
South Africa – 23 players in 9 Tests:
South Africa had a total of 23 players despite featuring in only nine games in the World Test Championship. A couple of retirements and failure of some senior players forced South Africa to field a lot of players. In those nine Test matches, as many as 10 players made their debut for South Africa.