“Great achievement” - Rohit Sharma hails Virat Kohli for ICC honours
Teammate Rohit Sharma has hailed Indian skipper Virat Kohli after the latter was named ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade and the ICC Men's ODI Cricketer of the Decade.
Rohit, India’s vice-captain in the limited-overs format, congratulated Virat Kohli by commenting on a post by the Indian cricket team’s official Instagram account.
"Great achievement," he wrote. The post was accompanied by a 'clapping hands' emoji.
Virat Kohli was nominated alongside teammate Ravichandran Ashwin, Joe Root, Kumar Sangakkara, Steven Smith, AB de Villiers, and Kane Williamson in the ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade category.
For the ICC Men's ODI Cricketer of the Decade, he staved off competition from Rohit, MS Dhoni, Sri Lanka legends Lasith Malinga and Kumar Sangakkara, Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc and South Africa great AB de Villiers.
What Virat Kohli said after winning dual honour
Virat Kohli termed the ICC awards as a recognition for the hard work he has put in over the last decade.
In a video posted by BCCI on its official Twitter handle, Virat Kohli looked back at the special moments over the last decade. He said:
"The moments I hold closest to my heart in the last decade definitely have to be the World Cup win in 2011, the Champions Trophy win in 2013 and winning the series in Australia 2018/19. But apart from that also, I think there have been very-very special games for Team India over the last decade for me personally as well. I don't want to mention the personal knocks so much because then I have to rate them and I don't like doing that."
On being termed one of the best in the modern-day game, Virat Kohli replied:
"Well, it is a by-product I feel of persevering with the mindset of doing everything possible in your ability for the team. It is just not with batting. It is about how you work off the field. How do you work on your fitness? How you work on your fielding skills. How you persevere day in and day out. How your routine and your whole system is designed around being the best version of yourself and the team every time you step onto the field. So you can provide in many different aspects of the game and that has always been my mindset.”
Virat Kohli is the only player to score over 10,000 runs in ODI in this decade. He has 39 centuries and 48 fifties during this period, with an average of 61.83.