Virat Kohli is a trendsetter. Not only for millions of his fans but also for the current Indian cricket team.

Kohli's dedication towards fitness and passion for the game is what sets him apart from the rest.

With 2818 international runs, 11 hundreds across formats and Test series wins against Australia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, everything that Kohli touched in 2017 turned to gold.

His journey as the Indian cricket team captain has been phenomenal to say the least. But the toughest challenge is yet to come as the team gets ready to tour South Africa in January next year.

India coach Ravi Shastri, who watched from the dressing-room several of Kohli's sublime hundreds, summed it up beautifully as he spoke about the Delhi batsman's winning run as captain in international cricket.

"The great thing about Virat is his work ethic, his realisation of what kind of player he can become and what he it takes to become that player. So the emphasis on fitness, the sacrifices that he has to put through," Shastri told India Today's Boria Majumdar in an exclusive interview.

Kohli has had a sensational run in ODIs throughout the year, beginning with his hundred against England. He was in fine form in the Champions Trophy, got runs in West Indies and then against Australia and New Zealand at home.

In the course of a dominant year for India, Kohli went past Ricky Ponting and is now second in the list of century scorers in ODIs. He has 32 hundreds and many experts feel he would be able to get close to Sachin Tendulkar's 49 tons in the format.

Kohli now has the most double centuries as a Test captain (6). He joined Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag at the top of the list for most double centuries by an Indian in Test cricket.

He also became the only Indian to aggregate over 600 runs in a single Test series for the third time during the recent series against Sri Lanka on home soil. Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid had achieved the feat twice.

Kohli broke a plethora of records during the Test series against Sri Lanka and became only the second Indian batsman after Vinod Kambli to score two consecutive double hundreds.

"A lot of things he wants to do as a 29-year-old. And it has become part of his lifestyle.

"What happens is, that when you have a captain in that frame of mind, wanting to achieve things others can only dream of. Then it rubs off on other players. Others want to emulate him. He wants to raise the bar for himself and he doesn't want any room for excuses," Shastri added.