5 milestones Virat Kohli reached in 2017

Virat Kohli has had a couple of great years with the bat, and as captain, but 2017 will surely stand out when he looks back at his career. Although he had a disappointing stint in the IPL, he single-handedly won India a lot of matches in Tests and ODIs.

Kohli has evolved as a captain and as a player during 2017 and has showcased his class and pedigree repeatedly to break several records. Although his team only played in familiar conditions, he led them brilliantly and played some outstanding innings.

Here are few of the records he broke in 2017:

#1 Most double-centuries in Tests as captain

With his legendary 243 in the Delhi Test against Sri Lanka, he overcame Brian Lara's record of five double-centuries as captain and became the first captain to score six double-centuries. His form in Test matches reached a whole new level as he hit three consecutive 100+ scores in the home series against Sri Lanka, including two double-centuries.

Despite a poor series against Australia, he came back strongly against Sri Lanka and it will be interesting to see how he fares on South African pitches.

#2 First captain to register 11 centuries in a calendar year

Kohli had a magical 2017

With his swashbuckling 243 in the third Test against Sri Lanka, Kohli became the first captain to score 11 centuries in a calendar year. He beat the likes of Graeme Smith and Ricky Ponting who had previously held this record.

He has been leading from the front with the bat ever since he took over as captain and has repeatedly won matches for India with his wonderful hundreds. He will have a challenging time overseas as captain, but will want to continue his magical run of form in 2018.

#3 Only batsman to feature in Top 2 in all formats in 2017

Kohli's splendid form was reflected in the ICC rankings as well

Kohli has consistently proven himself in different formats of the game and in 2017, he emerged No. 2 in Tests, No. 1 in ODIs and No. 1 in T20s (as of 25 December). Despite many players having a fantastic year, Kohli took his game to another level to finish off on a high.

He will be tested in South Africa, but will, hopefully, come through in all formats of the game.

#4 Fastest to 9000 ODI runs

Kohli is currently the fastest to reach 9000 ODI runs

During the New Zealand ODI in Kanpur, Kohli became the fastest man to 9000 ODI runs. He beat the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and AB de Villiers to achieve this milestone in just 194 innings.

Although Hashim Amla does not seem too far away from this mark, Kohli has done remarkably well to achieve this feat. The milestone man will be looking to tighten his grip on international cricket and perform at the top of his game in the next few years.

#5 2818 international runs in 2017 - highest run tally by an Indian

2017 belonged to Virat Kohli

To cap things off, Virat Kohli beat Rahul Dravid's record of 2626 runs in 1999. He scored his 2818 runs at an average of 68.73 and a mind-boggling strike rate of 92.15.

Kohli is already a legend of the game, but has several challenges ahead of him, which he will gleefully accept. We can only hope to see more of him in 2018.