Sportskeeda Cricket Awards 2017: ODI team of the year

Reigning World Champions Australia endured a wretched run in 2017 despite starting the year with a 4-1 series win over Pakistan. Sri Lanka endured a 12-game losing streak in ODIs and despite their progress to the semi-final of the Champions Trophy, Bangladesh won just four matches in the calendar year.

As a result, those three teams don't make it into the top five ODI teams of the calendar year. Nor do West Indies, who won just three matches. That makes the job of finding the top five teams relatively straightforward, it will still be interesting to see who claims top spot for the calendar year.

Here are the top five ODI teams of the year:

#5 New Zealand

Although they didn't qualify for the Champions Trophy semi-final, it took a monumental effort from Bangladesh to deny them that chance. Despite that, they finished the year with the fifth-best win percentage of any side in the calendar year, winning more than double the matches as Australia did.

They began the year with two wins over Australia at home. And just narrowly missed out to South Africa 3-2 in a thrilling five-match ODI series. After beating Ireland and Bangladesh in the build-up to the Champions Trophy, the Black caps finished the tournament without a win.

After that, they took a 1-0 lead in the series against India before Virat Kohli's side came back to win the series. They ended the year by whitewashing West Indies and that meant that they started and ended the year whitewashes at home.

#4 South Africa

Only two sides won more ODIs in 2017 than South Africa

As they have done for so long, South Africa continued their relentless pursuit of perfection in ODIs to end the year as the No.1 ranked ODI team in the world. The year began with AB de Villiers as skipper and ended with Faf du Plessis at the helm as the Proteas whitewashed Bangladesh to end the year.

In the first series of the year, Faf scored a career-best 185 against Sri Lanka and the hosts came out on top. While they lost out to England and didn't qualify for the semi-final in the Champions Trophy after back-to-back losses to Pakistan and India, they continued to be on song in bilateral ODI series.

Of the 19 ODIs that they played in 2017, they won 13 and finished with the third-best ODI win percentage in the calendar year.

#3 India

Kohli led India to the ICC Champions Trophy Final in his first year as captain

For India, the year began with the surprise resignation of MS Dhoni as limited-overs captain and ended with them finishing with the second-best record in ODIs, winning more ODIs than any other side in the calendar year.

Virat Kohli started the year as captain while Rohit Sharma took over as the former was rested for India's final ODI series of the calendar year. Between them, they helped India finished with 21 wins, their third-best tally of ODI wins in a calendar year.

After beginning the year with a 2-1 series win over England, India began as favorites to defend their Champions Trophy crown and were on track until they collapsed in the final against Pakistan. But after that, it was business as usual as West Indies, Sri Lanka (home and away), Australia and New Zealand were all beaten with no major scares.

Barring their loss in the Champions Trophy final, no side beat India in a bilateral ODI series as India's dominance in the format pushed them to within touching distance of the No.1 ODI ranking.

#2 England

Root led England to a stellar year in ODIs

Although England began the year with a 2-1 series loss against India, they ended as the team with the best record in ODIs in the calendar. They lost just two more ODIs in the calendar year after losing the series to India in India. While they stumbled in the semi-final stage in the Champions Trophy, they still showed just why they are regarded as one of the best ODI sides in the world right now.

Following the series loss to India, England went on a eight-game winning streak in ODIs, which was ended by South Africa just before the Champions Trophy. During that run, they whitewashed West Indies and Ireland before sealing a series win over the No.1 ranked South Africa.

In their final ODI series of the year, they almost whitewashed West Indies for the second time in the year but could only win 4-0 as an ODI was abandoned. Of the 20 ODIs that they played in 2017, they won 15 and that is why take the No.2 spot in this list.

#1 Pakistan

Pakistan claimed their maiden ICC Champions Trophy in 2017

Although Pakistan are fourth on the list of highest ODI win percentage (min 10 ODIs) in 2017, they won the only major ICC tournament in 2017. Their maiden Champions Trophy triumph in England marked the change in the way Pakistan is perceived in white ball cricket.

Although they began the calendar year with a 4-1 defeat to Australia away from home, they proceeded lose just two more ODIs in the calendar year. They ended the year with a 5-0 series win over Sri Lanka after the departure of Azhar Ali from captaincy turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the U-19 World Cup-winning captain Sarfraz Ahmed led Pakistan to dizzying heights.

The highlight of the year was the win over arch-rivals India in the Champions Trophy final, which showcased their ability to shine as a team and not just rely on individual brilliance as they have long done.