Dubai: The peerless Virat Kohli became Tuesday the first cricketer to make a clean-sweep of the ICC’s annual individual awards and was also named captain of the world body’s Test and ODI teams of the year, line-ups which were dominated by Indian players.
Kohli became the first player in history to win the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC ‘Cricketer of the Year’, his second consecutive, the ‘ICC Test and the ODI Player of the Year’ awards following an extraordinary 2018. Rishabh Pant was voted the ‘ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year’.
“Not only is Kohli the first player to win these three major ICC awards together but he has also been named the captain of the ICC Test and ODI teams of the year for a fabulous run in international cricket,” the ICC said in a statement.
Kohli scored 1,322 runs at an average of 55.08 in 13 Tests with five hundreds during the calendar year while in 14 ODIs he amassed 1202 runs at an astonishing average of 133.55 with six centuries. He also scored 211 runs in 10 T20Is.
“It’s a reward for all the hard work that you do throughout the calendar year. Having recognition at the global level from the ICC is something you feel proud of as a cricketer because you understand that there are many players playing the game,” Kohli was quoted as saying by the world body in a release.
“… obviously a very proud moment for me and something that gives you more motivation to keep repeating the same things because you have to keep the standard of cricket up and keep bringing in consistent performances,” Kohli added.
Kohli was the unanimous choice of the voting academy for the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy with South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada coming in second to him for both this award and the Test player of the year honour. Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan was runner-up to Kohli for the ‘ICC ODI Player of the Year’ award.
Awardees:
ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year: Virat Kohli
ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year: Virat Kohli
ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year: Virat Kohli
ICC Men’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year: Rishabh Pant
ICC men’s Test team of the Year:): Tom Latham (New Zealand), Dimuth Karunaratne (Sri Lanka), Kane Williamson (New Zealand), Virat Kohli (India Captain), Henry Nicholls (New Zealand), Rishabh Pant (India wk), Jason Holder (Windies), Kagiso Rabada (South Africa), Nathan Lyon (Australia), Jasprit Bumrah (India), Mohammad Abbas (Pakistan).
ICC men’s ODI team of the year: Rohit Sharma (India), Jonny Bairstow (England), Virat Kohli (India Captain), Joe Root (England), Ross Taylor (New Zealand), Jos Buttler (England, wk), Ben Stokes (England), Mustafizur Rahman (Bangladesh), Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), Kuldeep Yadav (India), Jasprit Bumrah (India).
PTI