ICC Awards: Virat Kohli named ICC Cricketer of the Year
Indian captain Virat Kohli had something to cheer about after the second Test debacle against South Africa when he was named the ICC Cricketer of the Year at the ICC Awards on Thursday. Kohli was also named the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year and captain of both ICC Test and ODI teams. Not only this, the Indian Skipper went pass through some records which lead him to get these honours. These records are:
- Kohli went past Ponting to second place in the all-time ODI centurion list with his 31st hundred.
- During the course of his 32nd ODI century, Kohli became the fastest batsman to 9,000 ODI runs.
- Kohli regained the No 1 spot in the ICC rankings for ODI batsmen with 889 rating points.
In the qualification period from September 21, 2016, to the end of 2017, Kohli scored 2,203 Test runs at an average of 77.80 including eight centuries and 1,818 ODI runs including seven centuries at 82.63.
#TeamIndia Captain @imVkohli sweeps ICC Awards
ICC Cricketer of the Year ✅
ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year ✅
Named Captain of both ICC Test & ODI Teams ✅Listen to what he has to say on being honoured with the awardshttps://t.co/47ypVcT6Je pic.twitter.com/6sWIZsQWT7
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 18, 2018
At the age of 29, he has already scored 32 ODI centuries and has his hero Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time record of 49 well and truly in his sights. It is surely just a matter of time before he surpasses the Little Master, particularly if he keeps churning out runs as he did in 2017. pic.twitter.com/GAfGQY8wbd
— ICC (@ICC) January 18, 2018
The 29-year-old Kohli thanked the ICC for recognizing his performances last season.
Australian captain Steve Smith claimed the Test Player of the Year honour after scoring 1875 runs in 16 matches at an average of 78.12, with eight hundreds and five 50s.
In the nominations for ODIs, Kohli was placed nominated alongside Pakistan paceman Hasan Ali, Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan and his own teammate Rohit Sharma.
Chahal was named Player of the Match and Player of the Series for his performance — the best by an Indian bowler in T20I history, and the third-best of all time.
He is behind only Sri Lanka’s Ajantha Mendis, who took 6/8 and 6/16 against Zimbabwe and Australia respectively. Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan was adjudged ICC Associate Cricketer of the Year after taking 60 wickets in 2017 — a record for an associate player in a calendar year — and 43 in ODIs, also a record.