Virat Kohli Chosen Wisden Leading Cricketer In The World 2016

India captain Virat Kohli may not have had a very good sign off to the season, with bad form and injury keeping him away from the runs in the last series against Australia, but he has evidently done before prior to that to be named Wisden's Leading Cricketer in the World 2016 in the honours announced on Wednesday. Kohli had to pull out of the last series of the series at Dharamsala due to a shoulder injury. That apart, he was also embroiled in several unsavoury incidents with the Australian team and media.

But he had a major role to play in the series wins against Sri Lanka, the West Indies, New Zealand, England and Bangladesh before Australia,

The India captain scored 1215 Test runs at an average of 75.93. His 10 ODI appearances got him 739 runs at 92.37, while he scored 641 T20 International runs at 106.83.

Only six batsmen have ever scored more international runs in a calendar year than Kohli but none of them have come close to the Indian captain's average.

"Virat Kohli, who features on the cover of the 2017 edition of the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, is also the Leading Cricketer in the World for 2016, an accolade put in place in 2003 when Ricky Ponting became the first honouree," Wisden said in a statement.

Kohli had also won the 'Polly Umrigar Award' presented to the 'International Cricketer of the Year' at the BCCI Annual Awards.

Kohli was also the Wisden India Almanack's Cricketer of the Year for the second time in its 2017 edition.

Apart from Kohli, Pakistani veterans Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan have been named in the list of the five Cricketers of the Year for the first time since 1997.

The Wisden Cricketers' Almanac honours:

Leading Cricketer in the World: Virat Kohli

Leading Woman Cricketer in the World: Ellyse Perry

Five Cricketers of the Year: Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Ben Duckett, Toby Roland-Jones, Chris Woakes.