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Captain of India Virat Kohli was named the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Decade on Monday as Australia’s all-rounder Ellyse perry swept the top female awards.
Kohli and Perry were the big winners at the International Cricket Council Decade Awards, while Australian batsman Steve Smith was crowned best test player.
Kohli, who was also named ODI Player of the Decade, lifted the 2011 World Cup and 2013 Champions Trophy with India, before inspiring his first Test Series victory on Australian soil two years ago.
“It has been an honor for me to be able to come out and perform for my team and it is a great honor for me to win this award,” Kohli said in a video message.
“My sole intention was to make winning contributions to the team and I strive to do so in every game,” he added.
India’s all-format captain was the highest run scorer of the decade at 20,396, reaching the most fifty (66) and having the highest average (56.97) of players with more than 70 innings.
He was also the only player with more than 10,000 international one-day races, including 39 centuries and 48 fifties with an average of 61.83.
Perry was named cricketer of the decade, as well as the best ODI and T20 player while cleaning at the women’s awards.
Perry, who also played soccer for Australia at the 2011 World Cup, won four T20 world titles and the 2013 one-day World Cup, scoring 4,349 runs and taking 213 wickets in the decade.
“It has been tremendous to develop the T20 women’s game and carry it forward,” Perry said. “It’s amazing to see where it came from when it was introduced to me.”
Smith, who averaged 65.79 in his 26s and 28s, won the Test award despite his role in the 2018 Cape Town Test ball handling scandal that saw him banned for a year. .
Meanwhile, Afghan spinner Rashid Khan said he was “speechless” after being voted the T20 male player of the decade.
“For someone from Afghanistan who receives this award, it is a special moment for me,” he said.
Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the Spirit of Cricket of the Decade award for sportingly calling out English batsman Ian Bell after a bizarre run at Nottingham 2011.
And Scotsmen Kyle Coetzer and Kathryn Bryce were named the best male and female cricketers of the decade from partner or non-trial countries.
