Sportskeeda Cricket Awards 2017: Top 5 ODI captains of the year

#4 AB de Villiers/Faf du Plessis

Du Plessis has taken over the captaincy from de Villiers full time

The tough-as-nails du Plessis was thrust into the Test captaincy pit as a filler for the injured AB de Villiers. However, the more he captained, the more it became clear that he was the perfect choice to lead the side in all three formats. And, with de Villiers slowly wriggling out of the captaincy armband, du Plessis established his stronghold as the first choice skipper.

However, throughout the first half of 2017, de Villiers remained the ODI captain, while du Plessis was in prime form as a batsman, scoring a career-best 185 against Sri Lanka in the side's first ODI series of the year, where the Proteas effectively whitewashed the tourists.

A topsy-turvy series against South Africa followed, with the side emerging victorious by winning the decider (3-2).

Another ICC tournament came, and went, despite assurance from the captain that the side were well-oiled and prepared to break their trophy jinx. It began on the right note, with a big win against Sri Lanka, but back-to-back losses to Pakistan and India ended their campaign even before it had properly begun. Before that, they had lost out to England in the three-ODI series.

The captaincy changed hands, and du Plessis took over full-time, leading the side to a 3-0 whitewash against Bangladesh in October.