Virat Kohli's absence from ICC Test Team of the Year 2016 – Here's why the Indian captain was snubbed!

New Delhi: The International Cricket Council announced it's 12-member squad as ICC Test Team of the Year 2016 with Ravichandran Ashwin the only Indian to feature.

The governing body's decision to make Alastair Cook the captain and snub Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli left everyone baffled as no one could understand why the man who presently is placed No. 2 on ICC Test rankings for men wasn't included in the final 12.

Moreover, Cook, whose leadership skills are being question in all corners of the world after England's humiliating 4-0 series loss to India in the recently concluded Test series, raised outrage amongst cricket followers.

The reality behind ICC's decision is however, simple and clear. The reason why Virat wasn't a part of ICC's Test team is because the voting period was from September 14, 2015 to September 20, 2016.

During this time, Kohli wasn't at his best in the traditional format of the game and had a below-par series against South Africa at home, scoring just 200 runs in six innings, with just one fifty-plus score. He played the rest of his four matches against West Indies, making only 251 runs in four innings, to end up with an average of 62.75.

Overall, the window was ended with Kohli scoring just 451 runs in 8 Tests, at an average of 45.10. He only had one century and one fifty to his name, which is not good enough to be named in ICC"s Team of the Year.

Also, the squad was apparently picked by none other than the greats of the game, Rahul Dravid, Kumar Sangakara and Gary Kirsten. The trio had considered all possible statistics before coming to the final 12.

Kohli, however, was rightly named the captain of ICC ODI Team of the Year 2016, with Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja also included.