India cricket team skipper Virat Kohli has been named the ICC men’s ODI Player of the Decade for his incredible performance in the 50-over format over the years.
Kohli, who boasts a staggering 61.83 average in the 208 ODIs played during the period taken into consideration for the ICC awards (from January 1, 2011, to October 7, 2020), said that he never really bothered about records during his journey as a cricketer.
“My only intention and mindset was to make winning contributions for the team. And I just tried to do that every game that I ever played and never focused on stats and numbers along the journey at all. And those things just become the by-product of what you do on the field and those just became milestones for me on the path to victory,” said Kohli in a video released by the ICC.
Kohli, who was nominated for the player of the decade award across all three formats, also won the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Decade.
The 32-year-old was also named in ICC’s Test, ODI and T20I teams of the decade and was also named captain of the Test team of the decade earlier.
Former Australia skipper Steve Smith won the ICC men’s Test Player of the Decade award, while Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan was awarded the ICC men’s T20I Player of the Decade award.
Among women’s cricketers Australia’s Ellyse Perry made a clean sweep clinching the award in all three categories — ICC Women’s Player of the Decade, ODI Player of the Decade and T20I Player of the Decade award.
