Top 3 players who won ICC awards in consecutive years

The International Cricket Council (ICC) conducts an annual awards ceremony to recognise and acknowledge the contributions of the best-performing teams and individuals across the three internationally accepted formats of the sport. The first ICC Awards were held in London on September 7, 2004.

Just like winning an ICC event is among the toughest tasks in world cricket, claiming an ICC award means you have to be a cut above the rest among the best in the business for 365 days. Winning an ICC Award is considered a lifetime achievement, as very few of the game's finest have been privileged enough to do so. But even rarer are those personalities who have won consecutive ICC awards. Here's a list of three such men's cricketers who have won an ICC Award consecutively:

#1 Ricky Ponting (Australia)

The former Australia captain is one of the handful of cricketers to have won an ICC Award in back-to-back years. The former right-hand bat was named the ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2006 and 2007. He was presented with the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy, named in honour of the former West Indies captain and arguably the greatest allrounder of all time.

Ponting was in a rich vein of form in Tests in 2006, aggregating 1333 in 10 games at an average of 88.86, including seven centuries and four fifties. If 2006 was about his red-ball batting, 2007 stood out for his groundbreaking performance in ODI cricket.

In 27 ODIs, Ponting amassed 1424 runs, averaging 79.11 at a strike rate of 91.69, including five tons and eight fifties. He also led Australia to their hat-trick of World Cup titles that year.

#2 AB de Villiers

AB de Villiers remains the only retired player to average over 50 in both ODIs and Tests. The former South Africa captain was a batting maestro and a crowd puller like no other. De Villiers was an absolute treat to watch in ODIs in 2014 and 2015, respectively. The wicketkeeper batter aggregated 879 runs in 16 matches, averaging 73.25 at a strike rate of 114.45, including two hundreds and six half-centuries.

He carried his purple patch in 2015 and racked up 1193 in 18 innings of 20 ODIs at an average of 79.53 and a terrific strike rate of 137.91, including five hundreds and as many fifties. Consequently, he was named the ICC Men's ODI Cricketer of the Year in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

#1 Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli is a once-in-a-generation cricketer. The right-handed batter is the only player other than Ponting to clinch two consecutive ICC Men's Cricketer of the Year Awards, in 2016 and 2017, respectively.

Virat was head and shoulders above everyone else in those two years, and his numbers are a testament to the same. In ODIs in 2016, he notched up 739 runs at an average of 92.37 and a strike rate of 100.00, including three hundreds and four fifties. 2017 saw him score 1460 runs, averaging 76.84 at a strike rate of 99.11, including six centuries and seven fifties.

Virat also chalked up 641 runs at an unbelievable average of 106.83 and a strike rate of 140.26, including seven fifties in T20Is in 2016. In 2017, he racked up 299 runs in 10 T20Is, averaging 37.37 at a strike rate of 152.55 with the help of two fifties.

Test cricket also saw a domineering display from Virat in those two years. In 2016, Virat scored 1215 runs in 18 innings at an average of 75.93, laced with four hundreds and two fifties. In 2017, he aggregated 1059 runs in 16 innings at an average of 75.64 with as many as five hundreds and a fifty.