The Indian captain has been conferred with two big honours by the ICC.
See Also: Steve Smith wins the ICC Test cricketer of the decade award
Kohli won the Male Cricketer of the Decade honour for amassing 20,396 runs across three formats of the game from 2010 to 2020. During this time frame, he averaged 56.97 and smashed 66 centuries, 94 fifties.
He was also part of India’s 2011 World Cup triumph, 2013 Champions Trophy title win and maiden Test series victory on Australia soil in 2018.
Reacting to receive this prestigious award, Kohli told ICC: “It’s a great honour for me to receive this award. The moment that I hold closes 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 Test series in Australia in 2018. But apart from that also I think there have been very very special games for Team India over the last decade and for me personally as well.”
“For me, every game played for India in as important and as crucial. It’s an honour for me to be able to go out there and perform for my team, for my country. It’s a great honour for me to win this award,” he added.
The Indian captain also shared the secret of his consistency in all three forms of the game.
As expected, Virat Kohli was named the Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Decade for his stupendous showing in the 50-over format.
In this time frame (2010-2020), Virat was the only player to amass 10,000-plus ODI runs at an average of 61.83 with 39 hundreds and 48 fifties. He also took 112 catches in the 50-over format in the past decade.
"My only intention was to make winning contributions for the team and I just strive to do that in every game. Stats just become the byproduct of what you want to do on the field," Kohli said on being bestowed with Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Decade honour.