Kohli is ICC cricketer of the decade; Dhoni gets 'Spirit of Cricket' honour

Indian captain Virat Kohli on Monday (December 28) won the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade and also the ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Decade.

Kohli, who had scored 20,396 runs (66 centuries) in all international cricket during the awards time period (January 1, 2011, to October 7, 2020), which is more than anyone else, was also part of Team India that won the ICC World Cup 2011 and ICC Champions Trophy 2013.

During the period considered for the awards of the decade, Kohli scored 7,240 runs in 86 Tests at an average of 53.62 with 27 tons, and in 208 ODIs, he amassed 10,388 runs at 61.83 with 39 hundreds. In 80 T20Is, he accumulated 2,768 runs at 50.32 with 24 fifties.

He was also named ICC Cricketer of the Year in both 2017 and 2018, so it was no surprise that he emerged as the clear jury favourite for the male cricketer of the decade honour.

? ICC @CricketWorldCup win in 2011
? ICC Champions Trophy win in 2013
?️ Test series win in Australia in 2018

Virat Kohli, the winner of the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade, talks about the last 10 glorious years of his career ?#ICCAwards pic.twitter.com/P9FSDgCkWJ

— ICC (@ICC) December 28, 2020

MS Dhoni won the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade, chosen by fans unanimously for his gesture of calling back former England batter Ian Bell following a disputable run out at Trent Bridge in 2011.

“Firstly, it’s a great honour for me to receive this award. The moments I hold closest to my heart in the last decade definitely has to be the World Cup win in 2011, the Champions Trophy win in 2013 and winning the series in Australia in 2018,” Kohli said.

Yesterday, Kohli was the lone player to be named in teams of the decade across formats and was named captain of the Test side.

The incredible Virat Kohli wins the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade ?

? Most runs in the #ICCAwards period: 20,396
? Most hundreds: 66
? Most fifties: 94
?️ Highest average among players with 70+ innings: 56.97
? 2011 @cricketworldcup champion pic.twitter.com/lw0wTNlzGi

— ICC (@ICC) December 28, 2020

“ODI cricket is something that I took to very early. I came to the ODI team first and then, I made my Test debut a couple of years later,” he said on the ODI honour.

“So, I got the understanding of my game pretty soon, pretty early. And as I mentioned before, my only intention and mindset was to make winning contributions for the team and I just tried to do every game that I play.

“I never focussed 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 for me, just end up being milestones that you cross on the way to the path to victory,” he added.

After he bagged the awards, Kohli’s 10-year-old tweet went viral. He had written in March 2010, “Looking forward to scoring lots of runs for my Team..”

Looking forward to scoring lots of runs for my Team..

— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) March 16, 2010

Australia’s Steve Smith bagged the ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Decade for scoring 7,040 runs in 69 Tests in the period at an average of 65.79 with 26 centuries. He was also named the ICC Player of the Year in 2015 and ICC Test Player of the Year in 2015 and 2017.

Rashid Khan took home the ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Decade award, for taking 89 wickets at an average of just 12.62 apiece with an economy rate of 6.14 runs per over in 48 matches during the decade. These are more wickets than anyone else despite starting in 2015.

?? MS DHONI wins 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.#ICCAwards | #SpiritOfCricket pic.twitter.com/3eCpyyBXwu

— ICC (@ICC) December 28, 2020

The ICC Awards of The Decade that recognise the best players across cricket over the past 10 years, invited fans to vote for the first time by selecting the winners across.

Fans provided 100% of the vote for the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade, from a list of the past winners since 2011. More than 1.5 million fans from across the globe participated casting 5.3 million votes.

The nominees for each of the categories had been determined by the Awards Nominations Committee according to on-field performances and overall achievements for at least five years during the period.

Full list of award winners

Virat Kohli wins the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade

Ellyse Perry wins the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Award for ICC Female Cricketer of the Decade

Steve Smith is ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Decade

Virat Kohli is ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Decade

Ellyse Perry is ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Decade

Rashid Khan is ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Decade

Ellyse Perry is ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Decade

Kyle Coetzer is ICC Men’s Associate Cricketer of the Decade

Kathryn Bryce is ICC Women’s Associate Cricketer of the Decade

MS Dhoni wins ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade