The Indian cricket great Sachin Tendulkar on Thursday wrote a special Tweet for Indian skipper Virat Kohli after he swept International Cricket Council Awards for 2017.
“No surprises there at all. You deserved it. Many congratulations, @imVkohli!,” wrote Sachin Tendulkar from his official Twitter handle.
No surprises there at all. You deserved it. Many congratulations, @imVkohli! #ICCAwards @ICC
— sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) January 18, 2018
In the ICC awards 2017, Virat was named ICC cricketer of the year, ICC One Day International Cricketer of the year and captain of both ODI and Test teams. And this is the second time when Virat is crowned ODI cricketer of the year. He had won the same award in 2012.
Virat also becomes the fourth Indian to win Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy award. Other than Virat, only Sachin Tendulkar (2010), Rahul Dravid (2004) and spin wizard Ravichandran Ashwin (2016) have won this award.
“It’s the first time winning the Garfield Sobers Trophy, and it’s a huge honour for me,” Kohli said in a statement.
“It’s probably the biggest of all in world cricket and two Indians getting it back-to-back makes it more special.”
The award was decided on the basis of performance between September 21, 2016 to December 31, 2017, during which Virat Kohli scored 2,203 Test runs at an average of 77.80.
The Delhi lad also scored eight centuries in the time period in the longest format, including five double hundreds.
In ODIs, Kohli scored 1,818 runs at an average of 82.63, including seven tons, and 299 T20I runs at a strike rate of 153. With Kohli as skipper, India went on to register 9 consecutive series wins in the longest format, a record that India share with Australia.
Virat Kohli had also past the record of Aussie legend Ricky Ponting to the second spot in place in the all-time ODI centurion list with his 31st hundred. ‘God of cricket’ Sachin Tendulkar still holds the first spot.
Last year, Virat Kohli had become the fastest batsman to score 9,000 runs in the ODI. Virat had also surpassed Ponting by becoming the most successful captain in an ODI year.