ICC Awards 2017: Virat Kohli Sweeps All Major Honors Of The Year

It doesn’t matter how reeling team India seems on the South African tour, there is one man, a player known for his consistency, who has still won our hearts against the Proteas. He is none other than the Indian skipper Virat Kohli and due to his tremendous performance with the bat last year, he has bagged all major ICC Awards 2017.

The International Cricket Council, on Thursday, announced the ICC Awards 2017 where Virat Kohli won the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy as he was named the World Cricketer of the year.

Apart from that, the ICC also named Virat Kohli as the ODI cricketer and the captain of both ICC Test and ODI teams for the year. It is the second time that the Indian skipper has lifted the ODI cricketer title as he won the same honor in 2012, as well, when he was 24 years old.

While ICC Awards 2017 were decided on basis of the performances between September 21, 2016, and December 31, 2017, Virat Kohli scored 2,203 Test runs at an average of 77.80 with eight centuries, including 5 double hundreds, in the same period.

In One Day Internationals, the 29-year-old hammered 1,818 runs at an average of 82.63 with seven centuries, and 299 runs in T20I at a strike rate of 153. Moreover, being the Indian skipper, he went on to win 9 consecutive series in the longest format in the same period.

As part of the ICC Awards 2017 , the Test and ODI Teams of the Year were also announced on Thursday, with Virat Kohli being the captain of both the squads.

ICC Test Team of the Year 2017 (in batting order):

Dean Elgar, David Warner, Virat Kohli (captain), Steve Smith, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ben Stokes, Quinton de Kock (wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Mitchell Starc, Kagiso Rabada and James Anderson

ICC ODI Team of the Year 2017 (in batting order):

David Warner, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (captain), Babar Azam, AB de Villiers, Quinton de Kock (wicket-keeper), Ben Stokes, Trent Boult, Hasan Ali, Rashid Khan and Jasprit Bumrah.

Apart from Virat Kohli, David Warner, Quinton de Kock and Ben Stokes are the only ones to get a mention in both the teams.

Rising leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal also bagged a recognition in the ICC Awards 2017 for his exceptional performance in T20 cricket including the 6-wicket haul against England in Bengaluru which was marked as the ICC T20I Performance of the Year.

As for Virat Kohli, at the age of 29, he already has 32 ODI centuries under his belt and is definitely eyeing Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time record of 49 centuries in the format. On the other hand, while 2018 might have started on a rather bitter note for Virat Kohli and his boys, they will look to leave the 2nd Test debacle behind after welcoming multiple awards for their performance last year and register a comeback in limited-overs cricket against South Africa.