ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year: Kohli wins award for fourth time

PTI, Jan 25, 2024, 7:49 PM IST

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Dubai: Indian batting maestro Virat Kohli was on Thursday crowned the International Cricket Council (ICC) men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year 2023 for his excellent run in the format last year headlined by a phenomenal outing in the World Cup at home.

This is the fourth such award for Kohli, who was the second most prolific run-scorer in ODIs last year behind compatriot Shubman Gill.

The former India skipper finished the year with 1,377 runs which included six centuries and eight half-centuries.

The year will forever be remembered as the one in which Kohli surpassed the great Sachin Tendulkar’s longstanding record of ODI centuries, and the award caps a memorable 12 months for the India batter, who guided the country to the World Cup final, winning the Player of the Tournament prize along the way for scoring a record 765 runs in 11 matches.

This is the seventh individual ICC award won by Kohli during his glittering career, and his fourth in the ODI category after previous wins in 2012, 2017 and 2018.

He also won the Test award in 2018 while the years 2017 and 2018 saw him also win the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year.

Kohli claimed the silverware from a shortlist that included countrymen Gill and Mohammed Shami, plus New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell.

Kohli lost out on the race for the Cricketer of the Year Award to Australian captain Pat Cummins, who won it ahead of compatriot Travis Head and Indian duo Ravindra Jadeja and Kohli.

Cummins won the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for men’s Cricketer of the Year and England all-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt bagged her second successive Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy for women’s Cricketer of the Year.

Australia batter Usman Khawaja was named the men’s Test Cricketer of the Year, holding off competition from fellow Australian run-scorer Travis Head, India spinner R Ashwin and England batter Joe Root.

Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu won her maiden women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year award, becoming the first female cricketer from the country to win an ICC award.

A landmark year has not only seen Athapaththu clinch the individual award, but also saw her being named captain of both the ICC women’s ODI and T20I Teams of the Year, announced earlier in the week.

England umpire Richard Illingworth won the David Shepherd Trophy for Umpire of the Year for the third time, after previously winning in 2019 and 2022.

Zimbabwe were revealed as the winners of the Spirit of Cricket Award for their sporting conduct immediately following the thrilling victory over West Indies in the men’s World Cup Qualifier match in Harare in June.

Cummins received the trophy after a phenomenal year which saw him produce outstanding individual performances while also leading his side to the World Test Championship and World Cup titles.

Cummins is the fifth Australian to win the trophy, following Ricky Ponting (2006 and 2007), Mitchell Johnson (2009 and 2014), Michael Clarke (2013) and Steve Smith (2015).

Cummins grabbed 42 wickets in 11 Tests during the year at an average of 27.50 with a best match haul of 10 for 47 in the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan. These notable contributions came as Australia claimed their maiden World Test Championship mace and retained the Ashes on English soil.

In ODIs, he grabbed 17 wickets in 13 matches at an economy rate of 5.74. His best figures of three for 51 against South Africa in the World Cup semi-final was followed by a crucial spell of two for 34 against India in the blockbuster final in Ahmedabad.

“It’s a huge honour. It has been a big year, lots of wonderful team success. To get this individual honour is huge and I am pretty amazed. In terms of individual accolades, it is right up there,’ Cummins said in an ICC press release.