Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli has bagged top honours in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) end of the decade awards, winning both ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade and Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Decade.
Kohli is the “only player with 10,000-plus ODI runs in the ICC Awards period”, tweeted the ICC with the Indian skipper having made 39 ODI centuries, 48 fifties at an average of 61.83.
"My only intention was to make winning contributions for the team and I just strive to do that in every game. Stats just become the byproduct of what you want to do on the field," Kohli said in a video tweeted by the ICC.
Kohli also won the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade with the most runs in the ICC Award period (20,396), most centuries (66), most fifties (94) and highest average among players with 70+ innings (56.97).
The multiple honours won by Virat prompted Aussie cricketer David Warner to put up a viral video on Instagram using the faceswap app that he is famous for.
On Sunday, the ICC also named Kohli the captain of their Test Team of the Decade.
He also became the only men’s player to be named in ICC’s Test, ODI, and T20I Teams of the Decade.
MS Dhoni was named the captain of the ICC ODI Team of the Decade and the ICC T20I Team of the Decade.
Dhoni also received the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade.
“The former India captain was chosen by fans unanimously for his gesture of calling back England batsman Ian Bell after a bizarre run out in the Nottingham Test in 2011,” tweeted the ICC.
Australian Steve Smith was named the ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Decade, having scored 7040 Test runs in the ICC Awards period at an average of 65.79 with 26 hundreds and 28 fifties.
Afghanistan’s spin wizard Rashid Khan was named the ICC T20I Cricketer of the Decade, being the highest wicket-taker in the ICC Awards period with 89 scalps.
Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry swept the ICC awards for women’s cricket, winning ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Decade, ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Decade and the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Award for ICC Female Cricketer of the Decade.
