Kohli bags two prestigious ICC awards

Kohli India PA

India captain Virat Kohli has won two prestigious individual awards shortly after being named in all three of the ICC’s Men’s Teams of the Decade.

On Monday, Kohli took home both the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade and the ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Decade.

Kohli announced himself as a potential superstar batsman and leader when he led India to the Under-19 World Cup title in 2008, beating South Africa in the final.

He quickly established himself in the Indian senior team and played a vital if understated role as India lifted the 2011 World Cup.

“[Sachin] Tendulkar has carried the burden of the nation for 21 years. It is time we carried him on our shoulders,” a 22-year-old Kohli said after the final against Sri Lanka.

As the decade progressed, he became India’s key batsman across all three formats and is highly regarded as one of the greatest limited-overs players to ever play the game.

Known for his ability to chase down nearly any total, he has 43 ODI centuries and is destined to break Tendulkar’s record of 49 hundreds in the format.

He was also named the Player of the Tournament in the 2014 and 2016 ICC T20 World Cups.

Since taking over the Test captaincy from MS Dhoni, Kohli is also the country’s most successful skipper in the longer format, leading them to a record 33 victories including a memorable win in Australia in 2018/19 – the first Indian team to manage that feat.

The numbers
Tests: 86 matches, 7240 runs, 53.62 average, 27 100s
ODIs: 208 matches, 10388 runs, 61.83 average, 39 100s
T20Is: 80 matches, 2768 runs, 50.32 average, 24 50s

Stats from January 1, 2011, to October 7, 2020, the period taken into consideration for the ICC awards

Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade nominees

R Ashwin (India)
Virat Kohli (India)
Joe Root (England)
Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)
Steve Smith (Australia)
AB de Villiers (South Africa)
Kane Williamson (New Zealand

ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Decade nominees

MS Dhoni (India)
Virat Kohli (India)
Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka)
Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)
Rohit Sharma (India)
Mitchell Starc (Australia)
AB de Villiers (South Africa)