India skipper Virat Kohli was named the ICC Male Cricketer of The Decade as well as the ICC Men's ODI Cricketer of the Decade on Monday. Former India skipper MS Dhoni earned the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade and several other cricketers received various honours based on their performance in the last decade.
Reacting to winning the ICC Cricketer of the Decade award, Kohli shared an inspirational post about how no dream is too big to achieve. Kohli shared an old tweet from 2010 about how he was "looking forward to scoring lots of runs for my Team." Ten years later, Kohli has lived up to his word.
I would like to thank my family, my coach, my friends and all the people who have stood by me through this decade and the BCCI for giving me the opportunity to represent my country which has been a great honour for me to do so over all these years. I would like to thank ICC for this recognition and all the people who voted for me at the ICC Awards of the decade. Sharing this tweet I put out 10 years ago, which was a hopeful one, I've realised through this journey that if you believe in yourself and play sport for the right reasons, no dream is too big to achieve. Regardless of the challenges and obstacles, you will keep moving forward with this belief and see your dreams turn into reality. Thank you once again," Kohli wrote.
ICC Awards of the decade: Winners
The awards were announced by the International Cricket Council. Here's the full list of winners:
- Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade: Virat Kohli
- Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Award for ICC Female Cricketer of the Decade: Ellyse Perry
- ICC Men's Test Cricketer of the Decade: Steve Smith
- ICC Men's ODI Cricketer of the Decade: Virat Kohli
- ICC Women's ODI Cricketer of the Decade: Ellyse Perry
- ICC Men's T20I Cricketer of the Decade: Rashid Khan
- ICC Women's T20I Cricketer of the Decade: Ellyse Perry
- ICC Men's Associate Cricketer of the Decade: Kyle Coetzer
- ICC Women's Associate Cricketer of the Decade: Kathryn Bryce