In a move that should come as no surprise to anyone, the ICC on Monday named India captain Virat Kohli as the One-Day International Player of the Decade and the ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade.
🇮🇳 VIRAT KOHLI is the ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Decade 👏👏
🔝 Only player with 10,000-plus ODI runs in the #ICCAwards period
💯 39 centuries, 48 fifties
🅰️ 61.83 average
✊ 112 catchesA run machine 💥🙌 pic.twitter.com/0l0cDy4TYz
— ICC (@ICC) December 28, 2020
🇮🇳 VIRAT KOHLI is the ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Decade 👏👏
🔝 Only player with 10,000-plus ODI runs in the #ICCAwards period
💯 39 centuries, 48 fifties
🅰️ 61.83 average
✊ 112 catchesA run machine 💥🙌 pic.twitter.com/0l0cDy4TYz
— ICC (@ICC) December 28, 2020
Check what Kohli said (in a video on bcci.tv) after winning the awards:
“Firstly it’s a great honour for me to receive this award. Moments that 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. I hold them dearly in my heart.
“Apart from that also there have been a lot of special games for Team India over the last decade and for me personally as well. I wouldn’t like to mention the personal knocks so much because then I’d have to rate them and I don’t like doing that because for me every game playing for India is as important and crucial. So it’s just been an honour for me to perform for the country.
“If you focus on consistency alone, I don’t think you can be consistent. If your endeavour is to step on to the field to make your team win at any cost, in that mindset you’ll perform beyond your own limitations and abilities. That has always been my mindset, give my heart and soul for the team. Make sure that as a team we’re always moving forward in the right direction, whether we get the results or not. It’s the mindset that helps you to be consistent in all formats of the game for a long period of time because you make sure you make some impact for the team.
“I like to base my cricket on the basics of the game. My batting, I’ve always been very firm with the fact that I want to play good cricketing shots and I want to extend the same application into different formts. That helps me switch quickly between formats because I don’t try something extravagant. I believe enough in my abilities to play good cricketing shots and score runs in all three formats of the game. That helps me to cut down the errors and then it just becomes a mental adjustment of being aggressive in ODIs with balance of rotating strike and being patient, to a bit more aggressive in the T20 game, rotating strike becomes even more crucial. And then Tests is just about patience and showing resilience and then still believing in those cricketing shots to get you runs.
“Cricketing goals – nothing is going to change for me from the time I came to the team, from the time I got an opportunity to play for India my mindset has been the same and it will continue to be the same. Now the responsibility is way more than it used to be, so my endeavour is always to ensure that as a team we’re heading in the right direction, set the right culture not just for this team but for generations to come so the standard of Indian cricket stays high and is maintained at the highest level. And for that you need proper commitment to play for the team, work on your fitness and skills. That’s the culture I hope to instill in the younger guys and the generations to come so that Indian cricket stays at the top.”
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