Virat Kohli adjudged ICC Cricketer of the Year; captain of Test, ODI teams
Dubai: Virat Kohli was on Thursday named captain of the ICC Test and ODI teams of the year that included four other Indians as well. Kohli scored 2,023 runs at 77.80, including eight centuries and three half-centuries in 18 matches during the qualification period.
He surprisingly pipped Australian skipper Steve Smith for the ICC's Test team captaincy. Smith had led his team to a dominating 4-0 win over England in the Ashes.
The Test team also comprises Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravichandran Ashwin, who have been in good form last year.
While Pujara scored 1,914 runs at 63.80 including seven centuries, nine half-centuries in 19 matches, Ashwin picked 111 wickets at 25.87, including eight five-wicket hauls and three ten-wicket hauls. The Indian off-spinner also scored 616 runs at 25.66, including five half-centuries.
The team includes three Australians -- Smith, opener David Warner and fast bowler Mitchell Starc, three South Africans -- opener Dean Elgar, wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock and pacer Kagiso Rabada. English pacer James Anderson and all-rounder Ben Stokes also found a place in the Test team.
Kohli, the Winner of the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy and ODI Cricketer of the Year awards, was chosen to lead the ICC ODI team, which includes Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah as the other two Indians. Kohli dominated white-ball batting amassing 1,818 runs at 82.63 including seven centuries and nine half-centuries in 31 matches, the ICC said in a statement.
Rohit too had a phenomenal season as he slammed six centuries and as many half-centuries for a total of 1,416 runs at 61.56 in 26 matches during the period. He also became the first batsman in the history of ODI cricket to score three double-centuries last December.
Bumrah emerged as one of the best death bowlers in 2017 as he scalped 45 wickets at 25.68, including a five-wicket haul in 27 matches. Australia's Warner, England's Stokes and South Africa's de Kock found a place in the ODI team as well. Among others, the ODI team included South African former skipper AB de Villiers, Afghanistan's teenage leg-spinner Rashid Khan and two Pakistani cricketer in Hasan Ali and Babar Azam.
New Zealand pacer Trent Boult, who took 45 wickets at 26.86 including 2 five-wicket hauls in 25 matches, too found a place in the ODI team.
