ICC Decade Awards: Kohli emerges as best player, Dhoni awarded for upholding spirit of cricket

Current Indian skipper Virat Kohli and former captain MS Dhoni have won big at the ICC awards 2020.

Kohli grabbed the ICC men's ODI Player of the Decade award, owing to his consistency and a mammoth average of 59.33 across a total of 248 ODIs. He also happens to be the only player to have made over 10,000 runs in the format starting 2011.

Kohli, who captains RCB in the IPL, was also conferred with the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Men's Cricketer of the Decade. He had been nominated for the player of the decade across all formats, winning the award for ODIs, alongside a blanket best cricketer award.

Former captain MS Dhoni returned with the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade. This was attributed to a 2011 incident, wherein Dhoni had called England's Ian Bell back to the crease to recommence his batting after an incorrect run-out decision was ruled against Bell.

For the otherwise most respectable format, Steve Smith from Australia won the ICC men's Test Player of the Decade award, while Afghanistan's Rashid Khan was handed the ICC men's T20I Player of the Decade award.

The nominees for the said awards were as follows:

ICC Men's ODI Cricketer of the Decade

• MS Dhoni (India)
• Virat Kohli (India)
• Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka)
• Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)
• Rohit Sharma (India)
• Mitchell Starc (Australia)
• AB de Villiers (South Africa)

ICC Men's Test Cricketer of the Decade

• Virat Kohli (India)
• James Anderson (England)
• Rangana Herath (Sri Lanka)
• Joe Root (England)
• Yasir Shah (Pakistan)
• Steve Smith (Australia)
• Kane Williamson (New Zealand)

ICC Men's T20I Cricketer of the Decade

• Virat Kohli (India)
• Aaron Finch (Australia)
• Chris Gayle (West Indies)
• Rashid Khan (Afghanistan)
• Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka)
• Rohit Sharma (India)
• Imran Tahir (South Africa)

ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade

• 2011 Winner - MS Dhoni (India)
• 2012 Winner - Daniel Vettori (New Zealand)
• 2013 Winner - Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka)
• 2014 Winner - Katherine Brunt (England)
• 2015 Winner - Brendon McCullum (New Zealand)
• 2016 Winner - Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan)
• 2017 Winner - Anya Shrubsole (England)
• 2018 Winner - Kane Williamson (New Zealand)
• 2019 Winner - Virat Kohli (India)

Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Men's Cricketer of the Decade

• Virat Kohli (India)
• Ravichandran Ashwin (India)
• Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)
• Steve Smith (Australi)
• AB de Villiers (South Africa)
• Kane Williamson (New Zealand)
• Joe Root (England)

For international women's cricket, Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry swept awards from all categories, emerging as the ICC Women's Player of the Decade, ODI Player of the Decade, as well as the T20I Player of the Decade award.

The nominations for women cricketers were as follows:

ICC Women's ODI Cricketer of the Decade

• Mithali Raj (India)
• Suzie Bates (New Zealand)
• Jhulan Goswami (India)
• Meg Lanning (Australia)
• Ellyse Perry (Australia)
• Stafanie Taylor (West Indies)

ICC Women's T20I Cricketer of the Decade

• Sophie Devine (New Zealand)
• Deandra Dottin (West Indies)
• Alyssa Healy (Australia)
• Meg Lanning (Australia)
• Ellyse Perry (Australia)
• Anya Shrubsole (England)

Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award for ICC Women's Cricketer of the Decade

• Mithali Raj (India)
• Suzie Bates (New Zealand)
• Meg Lanning (Australia)
• Ellyse Perry (Australia)
• Sarah Taylor (England)
• Stafanie Taylor (West Indies)

In addition to these, ICC also came out with the Men's teams of the decade for all three formats of ODIs, T20Is, and Tests. While MS Dhoni has been named captain for the former two teams, which has three and four Indians respectively, the captain for Test dream-team is Virat Kohli, with Ashwin being the only other Indian in the team.

Also Read: Sports Ministry issues SOP for organising sporting events in country amid COVID-19 pandemic

Also Read:  'Hands moving away': Sachin Tendulkar explains Prithvi Shaw's recent slump in form

Also Read:  Bishan Singh Bedi demands removal of name from Feroz Shah Kotla stand, threatens legal action against DDCA