Sportskeeda's ODI XI of 2017

#4 Middle-order

Virat Kohli was in imperious form during the calendar year

Since succeeding MS Dhoni as captain of India's ODI team at the start of the year, Virat Kohli fittingly raised the bar. Across different surfaces and against myriad bowling attacks, the star batsman was in unstoppable form right throughout the year. With 1460 runs from 26 matches at an astronomical average of 76.84 and strike-rate of 99.11, he reeled off six centuries and ended 2017 as the leading run-scorer in the 50-over format.

Due to the particular requirements of the crucial number four slot, a remorseless accumulator of runs perfectly fits the bill. While his strike-rate of 79.27 may appear to be relatively sedate, Pakistan's Babar Azam had to play most of his matches on the sluggish tracks of United Arab Emirates. He scored 872 runs from 18 matches at a tremendous average of 67.07 with four tons.

If one were to make an all-time ODI XI, AB de Villiers will be one of the first picks among active players. 2017 was an interesting year for the dynamic South African batsmen. While he opted to skip Tests citing workload issues, his quest for tournament success continued to elude him as the Proteas failed to make the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy. From 19 matches in the calendar year, he smashed 773 runs at an average of 59.46 and strike-rate of 116.94 including a career best score of 176 against Bangladesh at Paarl.