Former Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Faf du Plessis has overlooked the likes of Australian speedster Mitchell Starc, England Test captain Joe Root and South Africa’s Marco Jansen to pick a 33-year-old as the current most valuable player in Tests.
Starc, who led Australia’s pace attack in the three-match Test series against South Africa last month, tops the list of wicket-takers in the World Test Championship, while Root is the highest run-scorer in the WTC. Meanwhile, Jansen is the current world No. 1 bowler and No. 1 all-rounder in Tests.
However, in a recent video posted by Cricinfo on X, du Plessis picked Australia captain Pat Cummins as his preferred choice for the current most valuable Test player.
Faf was asked to name a more valuable
current Test player than Jansen, who won the Player of the Series award in South Africa’s home series against Australia. He placed the South African above Jayden Seales, Dhananjaya de Silva, Mitchell Santner, Babar Azam, Aiden Markram, Sonal Dinusha, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Wiaan Mulder, Jofra Archer, Ollie Robinson, Matt Henry, Daryl Mitchell, Shubman Gill, Temba Bavuma, Steve Smith, Harry Brook, Kagiso Rabada, Joe Root, Alex Carey, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah and Mitchell Starc before picking Cummins.
Faf labelled Brook a generational talent and Root one of the greats of the game but stated that he made his decision on the basis of players who have multiple skills like Jansen.
“Harry Brook is also a generational talent. But he has got one skill so… I am going to make my decision based on someone who has got multi-skill,” Faf said about Brook.
“Marco is an incredible Test cricketer but these guys (Root) are absolute bomb of cricketers.”
Cummins is one of the best players in the current generation, and his numbers as both a player and captain in Tests are extraordinary.
Cummins, who led Australia to the WTC title in 2023 and then the ODI World Cup as well, has dismissed 234 batters in 57 WTC matches, in addition to scoring 1,153 runs with the bat. He is the joint-second-highest wicket-taker in the WTC and holds the record for winning the most matches as captain in the World Test Championship.
In the three-match away series against the Proteas, however, he failed to deliver much with the ball and finished the series with just six wickets in five innings.
Cummins, who suffered Test series defeats against India (2023) and South Africa (2026), will next be seen in action for the Baggy Greens next month when they host New Zealand for a four-match Test series.
The home series against the Kiwis will be a must-win for Australia if they want to keep themselves alive in the race for the WTC 2027 final. After their defeat in the third Test, Australia dropped to third position in the WTC 2025-27 points table, while New Zealand moved to the No. 1 spot.
