Virat Kohli Sealed Top Spot in List of Lord’s Cricket Ground’s 20 Best Cricketers of 2016

Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli has bettered everyone to climb the top spot in the elite list of Lord’s Cricket Ground’s best 20 players of 2016. The flamboyant batsman, who earlier was made the captain of Cricket Australia’s Test team of the year, has now added another accolade to his name for his brilliant run from the bat this year.

From the word go, the Indian batsman spilt his magic on the field, piercing gaps and scoring runs in bulk. The Indian batting mainstay hammered 2959 runs across all formats, ranging from Tests to T20s. Apart from this, the 28-year-old scored 973 runs in a season nine of Indian Premier League which also included four centuries, most by any player in a single season.

The list which was revealed by the YouTube channel of Lord’s Cricket Ground, saw three more Indians apart from Kohli, making the list. Bestowed as the ICC Test Cricketer and ICC Cricketer of the year recently, ace-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin found a place at number three position, one behind England’s Jonny Bairstow, who stands second on the list. Middle-order batsmen’s Cheteshwar Pujara (18) and Ajinkya Rahane (13) were spotted on the list too.

Not to everyone’s surprise, the only bowler with a hat-trick across formats this year, Rangana Herath stood at the fourth position followed by England’s and Warwickshire all-rounder Chris Woakes at number five. World number three batsman, Joe Root wasn’t even in the top five, however, he comfortably landed at the seventh spot.

South Africa, who had a terrific year, saw speedster Kagiso Rabada (6), wicket-keeper batsman Quinton de Kock (8) and leggie Imran Tahir (19) making the list. Australian fast-bowling sensation Mitchell Starc found himself at number nine in the list while England’s Ben Stokes settled for the tenth spot. David Warner (12) and Steven Smith (14) were successful in finding their space too.

The list which was made on the basis of individual performances of players in this calendar year saw only one Sri Lankan, Kusal Mendis (17) and as many West Indian, Marlon Samuels (16) and Bangladeshi, Shakib Al Hasan (20) in the list.

Here’s a complete list of 20 players:-

1. Virat Kohli
2. Jonny Bairstow
3. Ravichandran Ashwin
4. Rangana Herath
5. Chris Woakes
6. Kagiso Rabada
7. Joe Root
8. Quinton de Kock 
9. Mitchell Starc
10. Ben Stokes
11. Misbah-ul-Haq
12. David Warner
13. Ajinkya Rahane
14. Steven Smith
15. Yasir Shah
16. Marlon Samuels
17. Kusal Mendis
18. Cheteshwar Pujara
19. Imran Tahir
20. Shakib Al Hasan