New Delhi:
"It feels amazing. It's a reward for all the hard work that you do throughout the calendar year…." Indian skipper Virat Kohli sounded modest after achieving the feat not even Sachin Tendulkar accomplished in his career. Kohli on Tuesday swept the ICC annual awards and became the only player to win all the three individual honours - the ICC Men's Cricketer of the Year, ICC Men's Test Cricketer of the Year and the ICC Men's ODI Cricketer of the Year.
The Indian skipper has now become the only player in the history of the game to win the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year, the ICC Test and the ODI Player of the Year awards.
Speaking to the ICC after the historic achievement, Kohli said, "To be rewarded in this manner from amongst all of them is obviously a very proud moment for me and something that gives you more motivation to keep repeating the same things because you have to keep the standard of cricket up and keep bringing in consistent performances. From that point of view, these awards give you that extra motivation."
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The 30-year-old Delhi-lad, who first came into limelight when he led India to victory at the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia in 2008, said that he was “very grateful and happy” with both him and his team performing well.
"I feel really grateful and very, very happy with the team doing well at the same time myself performing. Having recognition at the global level from the ICC is something you feel proud of as a cricketer because you understand that there are many players playing the game," the Indian skipper said.
In 2018, Kohli played 37 seven matches across all the three formats -- Tests, ODIs and T20s -- and scored 2,735 runs in just 47 innings at a highly impressive average of 68.37. Besides piling up runs on the scoreboard, the Indian skipper, who first came into limelight when he led India to victory at the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia in 2008, also scored 11 centuries and 9 fifties in the 2018 calendar year.
Also Read | Virat Kohli named captain of ICC's Test, ODI teams of the year
In Tests, Kohli hit five tons to score 1,322 runs at an average of 55.08 in 13 Tests in the calendar year. Kohli, who is often hailed as the greatest player to have ever played the game, was even better in ODIs and smashed 1202 runs at a staggering average of 133.55 with six centuries. The Indian skipper also scored 211 runs in 10 T20Is.
Besides this, Kohli has also been named the Captain of ICC Test Team of the Year and Captain of ICC Men's ODI Team of the Year following an extraordinary 2018 as a player and skipper.
