The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday (December 28) bestowed Indian skipper Virat Kohli with the Male Cricketer of the Decade and Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Decade awards.

See Also: MS Dhoni wins ICC Spirit of Cricket award for the decade

Kohli bagged the Male Cricketer of the Decade honour for aggregating 20,396 runs across three formats of the game from 2010 to 2020. During this time frame, he averaged 56.97 and hit 66 centuries, 94 fifties.

As an ODI cricketer, Virat was inarguably the best performer in the last decade, amassing 10,000-plus 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.

In an exclusive interview with BCCI, Kohli shared his feelings to receive such top honours from the governing body of cricket.

“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. Apart from that also there have been some very special games for Team India as well in the last decade and for me personally as well. I would not want to mention my personal knocks so much because then I will need to rate them, and I don’t like doing that. For me, every game played for India is as important and as crucial. It has just been an honour for me to go out there and perform for my team and for my country and it is a great honour for me to win this award,” he said.

Virat Kohli’s consistency has earned him fans from all over the world. He is the only batsman in the game to average above 50 in all three forms of the game.

Asked how it feels to be recognized as the best among your contemporaries, Kohli replied: “Well, it is a by-product I feel of persevering with the mindset of doing everything possible in your ability for the team. It is just not with batting. It is about how you work off the field. How do you work on your fitness? How you work on your fielding skills. How you persevere day in and day out. How your routine and your whole system is designed around being the best version of yourself and the team every time you step onto the field. So you can provide in many different aspects of the game and that has always been my mindset."

“I have never strived to be better than everybody else. I have just tried to be the best version of myself. I am just glad. I am proud to receive this award because I know the number of quality players, who played in the last decade and what they bring to international cricket as well. It is not a sense of feeling superior to anyone for me. I feel like this is a recognition of perseverance and the hard work I have put in the last 10 years and will continue to do so in the future as well."

In the last decade, Kohli has faced quite a few challenging bowling attacks and he relished every challenge and enjoy it.

“I have relished all the battles in the last decade. Playing at the international level is never easy regardless of who you play against. I have played against some great bowlers in the past and continue to play some quality bowlers even today. I have enjoyed all the challenges because in different situations of the game,  as I mentioned earlier, you face different challenges and I take a lot of pride in competing against the best and testing myself out against the best in conditions that are not ours, in situations that are tough. It is only when you strive for something which is seeming tough or looking tough, you find a lot of things about yourself and your true character is revealed,” he remarked.

The Indian captain also shared his cricketing goals for the next decade.

“Nothing is going to change for me from the time I came into the team and I got the opportunity to play for India. My mindset has always been the same and it will continue to be the same. Now the responsibility is way more than it used to be. My endeavour is to always make sure that as a team we are heading in the right direction, set the right culture, not just for this team but for generations to come so that the standard of Indian Cricket stays high and it is maintained at the highest level. For that, you need proper commitment to play for the team, play hard for the team. You have to work on your fitness, on your skills; it has to be a proper commitment and it that’s the culture I hope to instil in the younger guys coming through now and the generations to follow so that Indian Cricket stays at the top for years to come,” Kohli said.