Lalchand Rajput surprised with Virat Kohli's exclusion from the ICC Test team of the year

The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced its annual awards yesterday and also named the teams of the year in different formats. The most surprising exclusions from the Test team was that of Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli who has had a sublime 2016 and has also marshalled his troops to perfection.

Kohli who scored three double hundreds in the year was surprisingly excluded from the squad as the performances taken into consideration was between 14th September 2015 to 20th September 2016. During that window, the members of the Test team has outscored him.

While the modern-day sensation scored 451 runs in 8 Tests during that period, he had a stupendous time post-September 20 where he slammed three centuries including two double centuries. The right-hander has scored 964 runs in 8 Tests at a staggering average of 80 since September 20 with his highest score being 235 against England. This omission led to many former greats and experts questioning the process of the game’s global body.

Former Indian cricketer and the current coach of the Afghanistan team Lalchand Rajput too had a similar view and questioned the process. Rajput said that the governing body should have announced the awards in October itself if they were concerned with performances in between September 2015 to September 2016.

“I am really surprised. Kohli had such a wonderful year not just as a batsman but as a leader for India as well,” Rajput was quoted by the DNA. They should have released it in the last week of September or first week of October. You can’t do that when the calendar year is ending, it looks weird,”

He also suggested the ICC to change its cut-off date and keep it in line with the calendar year. “The ICC should consider changing from September to September cut-off date and keep it from January to December, which will make it easier and more justifiable as cricket is played throughout the year and there is hardly any off-season,” added Rajput.

The team was picked by former legends of the game Rahul Dravid, Kumar Sangakkara and Gary Kirsten. All the statistics of batsmen, bowlers and all-rounders were taken into consideration by the trio before finalising the list.