Virat Kohli nominated in all categories as ICC opens poll for decade awards

The International Cricket Council has nominated Indian skipper Virat Kohli in all sections of the ICC Decade Awards. A front-runner to win the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for the Cricketer of the Decade, Kohli has also been nominated for men’s Test cricketer of the decade, men’s ODI cricketer of the decade, and men’s T20I cricketer of the decade.

Ever since making his debut back in 2008 against Sri Lanka, Virat Kohli’s rise is one of the fairytale stories of the 21st century, so much so that he is a certainty in almost every single all-time XI across formats. With an average in the excess of 50 in all three formats, Kohli is a behemoth, never-seen-before. So it was only natural when the ICC decided to honour the stars of the past decade, the Delhite dominates it as he does in an ODI run-chase.

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For the Cricketer of the Decade, Kohli has been clubbed with Ravichandran Ashwin, Joe Root, Kumar Sangakkara, Steve Smith, AB de Villiers, and Kane Williamson. Fans will have 10% voting counts with experts deciding the remaining 90% – which is the deviation from the norm as fans didn’t have a say in the process in the previous editions of the award. The winner will take the Sir Garfield Sobers Award.

In the corresponding section for the women, India’s Mithali Raj is nominated among Suzie Bates, Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry, Sarah Taylor, and Stafanie Taylor. The Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Award will be presented to the winner.

While James Anderson, Rangana Herath, Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Yasir Shah, Steven Smith, Kane Williamson are nominated for the men’s Test cricketer of the decade award, MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma lead the way for men’s ODI cricketer of the decade with Virat Kohli, Lasith Malinga, Kumar Sangakkara, Mitchell Starc, and AB de Villiers are the other nominees.

Aaron Finch, Chris Gayle, Rashid Khan, Virat Kohli, Lasith Malinga, Rohit Sharma, Imran Tahir will compete to bag the T20 player of the decade award while Sophie Devine, Deandra Dottin, Alyssa Healy, Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry, and Anya Shrubsole are named in the corresponding list for women.

“The nominees for each of the categories have been determined by the Awards Nominations Committee according to on-field performances and overall achievements for at least five years during the period,” an ICC release stated.

The Voting process has already started on November 25 and it will go on till December 16.