ICC awards 2017: Five contenders for ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year award

Virat Kohli

Kohli is looking down on his competition as he looks to bring home another award

And the reason why Warner isn't the front-runner is because of Virat Kohli. A man who seemingly has world records for breakfast, lunch and dinner. A player who has shattered far too many records that he has now even begun to give statisticians nightmares.

Why is Kohli the front-runner for the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year, you ask? Well, let me just make the numbers do all the work.

In 31 ODIs, he has scored 1,818 runs at an average of 82.63 and strike rate of 99.45 with seven centuries and nine fifties. In that period, no batsman has scored more fours (166) and only three have scored more sixes than his 26.

So it is fair to say that purely on numbers, Kohli deserves to walk away with the award. But that doesn't even take into account the fact that he was made full-time captain in ODIs earlier this year and has already led India to the Champions Trophy final.