Virat Kohli not good enough to be part of ICC's ODI Team of the Year?

If there was a poll on who's currently the best ODI player in the world, chances are, Virat Kohli would win hands down. But clearly the ICC doesn't think so.

Kohli, the number one ODI batsman in the world, has been omitted from this year's list of the ICC ODI Team of the Year. That's not all, Kohli, who is also the current ODI player of the year is set to lose that crown too. This year's nominees for ICC's ODI player of the year are Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Saeed Ajmal, Misbah-ul-Haq and Kumar Sangakkara. (Why Kohli lost out to Amla?)

There is no doubt that the Delhi batsman has had a phenomenal year with the bat. The last 12 months have seen him score 1237 runs in 31 ODIs with an impressive average of 56.22, which also include 4 tons.

But, here's the catch. The ICC selections are based on performances recorded between 7th August 2012 and 25th August 2013. Which means 2 out of his 4 tons this year were not considered since they came in the month of October. (Dhoni named ICC People's Choice of the Year)

Also, if one compares Kohli's ODI record in that period to the man who's taken his number 3 spot in ICC's ODI team- Hashim Amla, it becomes clear why the Indian batsman missed the bus. Amla averages 50 in comparison to Kohli's 40 during the voting period.

Speaking on that matter, ICC CEO Dave Richards said "He would I'm sure consider himself unlucky to have missed out. But the players who have been selected their records you'll see are tremendous."

But then, the question that needs to be asked is- if pure stats are the main criteria for selection then why have a selection panel comprising of former greats to finalize the nominees? Why not let a statistician, or for that matter a computer pick out the final results?