Picking a combined men-women ICC ODI team of the year 2024 ft. Smriti Mandhana, Shaheen Afridi

The International Cricket Council (ICC) recently announced the best ODI team of the year 2024, featuring the top performers from the 50-over format in the last calendar year. The ICC named a playing XI each from men's and women's divisions.

Interestingly, there wasn't a single cricketer from the 2023 men's ODI World Cup finalist teams India and Australia in the team of the year for 2024. Notably, the India men's team played just three ODIs in the last year, which is why their players missed out.

In this listicle now, we form a best combined XI featuring players from ICC ODI Team of the Year for men and women.

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Openers - Smriti Mandhana and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk)

Star Indian opener Smriti Mandhana will open the batting for this team. Mandhana played 13 ODIs in 2024, aggregating 747 runs. The highlight of the year was Mandhana's back-to-back ODI centuries against South Africa. She was the highest run-scorer in women's 50-over cricket in 2024.

Opening the batting with Mandhana will be Afghanistan's wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz. He amassed 531 runs in 11 matches at an impressive average of 48.2 last year, and proved himself a consistent performer for Afghanistan with three centuries and two half-centuries.

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Middle Order - Pathum Nissanka, Hayley Matthews, Ashleigh Gardner, Charith Asalanka (c) and Annabel Sutherland

The middle-order features two big names from the Sri Lankan men's team, namely Pathum Nissanka and skipper Charith Asalanka. Joining them will be women's cricketers Hayley Matthews, Ashleigh Gardner and Annabel Sutherland.

Shedding some light on Nissanka and Asalanka's stats first, the former scored 694 runs in 12 matches while maintaining a brilliant average of 63.1 and a fantastic strike rate of 106.4. Captain Asalanka amassed 605 runs in 16 matches for Sri Lanka. He registered one century and four half-centuries in the 50-over format.

Hayley Matthews was an exceptional performer for the West Indies women's ODI team, returning with 469 runs and nine wickets in just seven games. Australia's Ashleigh Gardner scored 269 runs and took 20 wickets in 12 ODIs, while Annabel Sutherland managed 369 runs and 13 wickets in the same number of matches. This trio will provide some much-needed balance to the playing XI.

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Bowlers - Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Sophie Ecclestone and Kate Cross

Pakistani speedsters Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf will lead the pace-bowling department. Afridi played only six ODIs in 2024, but took 15 wickets. His compatriot Haris Rauf accounted for 13 wickets in eight matches at an average of 22.4.

England's Sophie Ecclestone will be the main spinner in this team. Ecclestone took 21 wickets in 11 matches played in 2024. Notably, she became the fastest to complete 100 wickets in women's ODIs in terms of innings taken, achieving the feat in her 63rd innings.

English seamer Kate Cross completes this iconic lineup. Cross scalped 19 wickets in 13 matches, and also kept a check on the flow of runs.