Virat Kohli became only the third cricketer to be named the captain of International Cricket Council's (ICC) Test and ODI teams in the same year.
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The ICC on Thursday (January 18) announced the ODI and Test XIs of 2017. Both the teams were led by the Indian captain. This is also the first time the Delhi batsman made it to the ICC Test Team of the Year.
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Legendary Australian captain Ricky Ponting had achieved the feat twice - in 2004 and 2007.
World Cup-winning Indian captain MS Dhoni was the first from the country to lead both the ICC ODI and Test teams in 2009.
Notably, under the Ranchi hero, India climbed to the top of Test rankings for the first time in 2009 after the rankings were introduced in 2001. He was presented with the the International Cricket Council's Test Championship mace in December that year.
How Kohli and co. reigned supreme in 2017
Meanwhile, Kohli achieved the rare feat after enjoying quite a lot of success last year. The 29-year-old led India to series wins in the longest format against Bangladesh, Australia and Sri Lanka (twice - home and away) and helped the team retain their No. 1 spot in ICC Test rankings.
The Men in Blue, under Kohli, came up with an impressive show in ICC Champions Trophy in England and reached the final, in which they were beaten by arch rivals Pakistan.
Kohli's team crushed top teams like Australia and New Zealand towards the end of the year. India won all their bilateral assignments last year, winning 21 out of 29 matches.
The Delhi right-hander led India from the front with the bat across all formats. The skipper scored 1,460 runs, including six centuries from 26 ODI matches at 76.84 in 2017. He hit three double centuries in Tests, thereby amassing 1059 runs at 75.64.
The right-hander has also won the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year) thereby becoming the fourth Indian cricketer after Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and R Ashwin to do so. He was also named the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year.
ICC Men's Test Team of the Year 2017 (in batting order)
- 1. Dean Elgar (South Africa)
- 2. David Warner (Australia)
- 3. Virat Kohli (captain) (India)
- 4. Steve Smith (Australia)
- 5. Cheteshwar Pujara (India)
- 6. Ben Stokes (England)
- 7. Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper) (South Africa)
- 8. Ravichandran Ashwin (India)
- 9. Mitchell Starc (Australia)
- 10. Kagiso Rabada (South Africa)
- 11. James Anderson (England)
ICC Men's ODI Team of the Year 2017 (in batting order)
- 1. David Warner (Australia)
- 2. Rohit Sharma (India)
- 3. Virat Kohli (captain) (India)
- 4. Babar Azam (Pakistan)
- 5. AB de Villiers (South Africa)
- 6. Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper) (South Africa)
- 7. Ben Stokes (England)
- 8. Trent Boult (New Zealand)
- 9. Hasan Ali (Pakistan)
- 10. Rashid Khan (Afghanistan)
- 11. Jasprit Bumrah (India)
NOTE: The voting period was from 21 September 2016 to 31 December 2017.
