Temba Bavuma, Mitchell Starc, Virat Kohli and Jemimah Rodrigues headline ESPNcricinfo's teams of the year for 2025
Our staff pick their men's and women's teams from among those who excelled through the year
Yash Jha
31-Dec-2025 • 23 hrs ago

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Can you make it to a team of the year after playing only four games in the format you did best in? If those include winning your country's first world title and a historic, near-unprecedented, clean sweep - with you leading your side and making telling contributions - why not? Temba Bavuma leads ESPNcricinfo's Test team of the year for 2025 following South Africa's WTC title win, while his female counterpart - Laura Wolvaardt - captains the women's ODI team, which features four members of India's World Cup-winning side.
Men's Test team of 2025: Travis Head, KL Rahul, Temba Bavuma (c), Shubman Gill, Joe Root, Alex Carey (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Marco Jansen, Mitchell Starc, Simon Harmer, Mohammed Siraj
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Bavuma's four outings included clutch second-innings half-centuries in the WTC final and against India in Kolkata. Simon Harmer, like Bavuma, played only four Tests but claimed 30 wickets to spin South Africa to wins in three of those games. Marco Jansen's high impact was on full display in the series-clinching win in Guwahati (93 and 6 for 48), and he takes the seam-bowling allrounder's spot.
That makes it three South Africans, but India - despite their overall results - are the most represented side: Shubman Gill was the year's leading run-getter, while KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja also featured high up on the charts. Mohammed Siraj's bursts of quality and quantity see him grab one of the specialist-seamer spots.
Partnering Siraj in our side is the only man with more wickets than him in 2025, and the only unanimous choice among our staff: Mitchell Starc, who was the only bowler to take more than 50 Test wickets in the year.
Travis Head and Alex Carey join Starc on the back of their Ashes exploits, with Head pushed to the top of the order. Joe Root completes the batting line-up with his fifth straight appearance in our Test team of the year.
Women's ODI team of 2025: Smriti Mandhana, Laura Wolvaardt (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Marizanne Kapp, Ashleigh Gardner, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Nadine de Klerk, Fatima Sana, Alana King, Sophie Ecclestone
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The women's ODI World Cup was the marquee event of this calendar year, and seven of our XI come from the ranks of the two finalists, India and South Africa.
The year's top run-getters, both with 1100-plus runs - Smriti Mandhana and Laura Wolvaardt - are the openers, with Pratika Rawal (976) unfortunate to miss out. Giving Mandhana company are fellow World Cup winners Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, who takes the keeping gloves, and Deepti Sharma - the Player of the World Cup, and the top wicket-taker of the year.
Marizanne Kapp and Nadine de Klerk are the other South Africans in the side; both contributed with bat and ball at the World Cup and through the year too.
Bolstering the middle order is Ashleigh Gardner, whose 530 runs (in ten innings) included two stellar hundreds at the World Cup. Alana King is the only other Australian in the XI. Gardner, King and Deepti will be accompanied by Sophie Ecclestone in a strong spin bowling attack.
Fatima Sana becomes the first Pakistan player this decade to make it to any of our women's teams of the year.
Men's ODI team of 2025: Rohit Sharma (c), Matthew Breetzke, Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Shai Hope (wk), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer, Matt Henry, Jayden Seales
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Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli represent India - winners of the Champions Trophy - in our men's ODI team of the year, with Rohit named captain after leading India to the title undefeated.
Rohit and Matt Henry - the year's top wicket-taker - were the only unanimous choices among the staffers, with Glenn Phillips and Mitchell Santner making it three entries for New Zealand, the Champions Trophy runners-up.
England, too, have three players making the cut: Root, Adil Rashid (joint-most wickets among spinners) and Jofra Archer (18 wickets in nine outings).
Jayden Seales (27 wickets in 11 innings) votes from all but one of our staff, and with Shai Hope the year's best keeper-bat, West Indies get two players in the XI for the first time this decade.
Rounding off our selection is South Africa's Matthew Breetzke, who is pushed up to the top amid a clutter of high-performing middle-order options.
Men's T20 team of 2025: Abhishek Sharma, Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (wk), Nicholas Pooran (c), Dewald Brevis, Tim David, Sam Curran, Jason Holder, Noor Ahmad, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah
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Abhishek Sharma (1602 runs, SR 202) and Phil Salt (1503 runs, SR 154.8) lit up most of the year, and they bat at the top for our men's T20 team of 2025, followed by the ever-prolific Jos Buttler and Nicholas Pooran - both of whom also topped 1500 runs for the year.
Buttler is the wicketkeeper, while Pooran, who led MI New York in their MLC title win, and Trinbago Knight Riders to the CPL title, captains the side.
Dewald Brevis and Tim David - both with 1100-plus runs at a strike rate above 170 - bring muscle to the middle order. Sam Curran and Jason Holder (the leading wicket-taker of the year) add depth as seam-bowling allrounders.
The pace attack is led by Jasprit Bumrah, whose 32 wickets came while conceding less than seven runs per over.
Noor Ahmad - the most prolific spinner in 2025 - and Varun Chakravarthy (55 wickets in 35 innings) combine for a formidable spin duo to complete the bowling line-up.
Women's T20 team of 2025: Meg Lanning (c), Beth Mooney (wk), Hayley Matthews, Ellyse Perry, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Annabel Sutherland, Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen, Georgia Wareham, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Bell
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Our women's T20 team of the year reads like an Ashes all-stars line-up - and quite like the Ashes, it is dominated by Australia: just three players are from England, and Hayley Matthews is the sole inclusion from outside those two teams.
Matthews slots in at No. 3 in a side boasting enviable depth. Openers Meg Lanning and Beth Mooney are the only non-bowlers, but they double up as captain and wicketkeeper, respectively.
Ellyse Perry, Nat Sciver-Brunt and Annabel Sutherland add to the all-round riches, forming the bulk of the pace attack that is led by Lauren Bell - the only unanimous selection in this XI.
The batting doesn't end there: Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen and Georgia Wareham lend further heft, with Jonassen and Wareham combining with Matthews and Ecclestone in a four-pronged spin attack.
Player stats are current to December 23, 2025
Yash Jha is a multi-platform content producer and presenter for ESPNcricinfo