India skipper Virat Kohli was adjudged the worthy winner of ‘ICC Cricketer of the Year 2017’ award for being incredibly consistent with the bat across all three formats of the game during the qualification period of ICC awards. Moreover, the 29-year-old bagged the ‘ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year 2017’ besides being named as the leader of ICC’s Test and ODI team of the year.

In his nearly 10-year long illustrious cricket career thus far, Virat won the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year award for the second time after 2012. No wonder, the Indian captain is ecstatic with the recognition from cricket’s governing body.

In a video message posted by ICC on their official Twitter page, Kohli can be seen expressing his gratitude for securing the most prestigious award in world cricket.

“It means a lot to me to win the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for becoming the ICC Cricketer of the Year 2017 and also ICC ODI player of the Year. I won that (ICC ODI player of the Year) back in 2012 also but this is the first time I’m winning the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy and it’s a huge honour for me,” Kohli said.

“It’s probably the biggest award we have in world cricket and two Indians getting it back to back making more special. Last time it was Ash (R Ashwin) and this time I’m getting it so I’m really honoured and thank ICC for recognising all the hard work that we all put in for our respective sides. I congratulate all the other winners also,” he further added.

During the qualification period from September 21, 2016 to the end of 2017, Kohli scored 2203 Test runs at an average of 77.80 including six double-centuries, 1818 ODI runs at an average of 82.63 including seven hundreds, and 299 T20I runs at a phenomenal strike-rate of 153. Furthermore, the Indian captain is the only batsman in world cricket to average well over 50 across all formats of the game. Virat averages 53.53 in Test cricket while his ODI and T20I average read 55.74 and 52.86 respectively.