Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma received their caps of 2016 ICC ODI Team of the year before the second One-Day International between India and New Zealand. International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed this news in one of their tweets.
India's @imVkohli and @ImRo45 try on their 2016 ICC ODI Team of the Year caps! Will they make the 2017 XI? pic.twitter.com/5DeDmYNJLt
— ICC (@ICC) October 25, 2017
ICC started their annual awards in 2004 and since then, they awarded players for their excellent performance in the field. Last year, both Indian batsmen featured in the 2016 ODI team of the year. Interestingly, by then Kohli wasn’t captain of India in ODI, but ICC decided to give him the reins of the team. Other than these two, Ravindra Jadeja also represented India in this team last year.
Four South Africans are featuring in the team, while three each from Australia and India managed to crack in. One from both England and West Indies were able to get into this team.
Virat Kohli is in line to receive this pride again as he is the leading run-scorer in ODI format this year. Also, Kohli is the biggest contender of ICC Cricketer of the year award after scoring a mind-boggling 2984 international runs (1413 in tests, 1467 in ODIs and 104 in T20I) during the cut-off period.
ICC ODI team of the year 2016: Virat Kohli (captain), David Warner, Quinton de Kock (wk), Rohit Sharma, AB de Villiers, Jos Buttler, Mitchell Marsh, Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Starc, Kagiso Rabada, Sunil Narine, Imran Tahir.