The ICC Decade Awards were something every lover of cricket had been waiting for and finally it is here. The winners were announced a day after the release of the ICC Teams of the Decade (2011 – 2020).
Not so surprisingly, India won big at the awards and the spotlight for the wins is primarily on former captain MS Dhoni and current captain Virat Kohli. The nominations were also heavily laden with Indian names with multiple Indians competing for the same award. ‘ICC Player of the Decade’ saw nominations such as Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin from India alongside Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka), Steve Smith (Australia), AB de Villiers (South Africa), Kane Williamson (New Zealand) and Joe Root (England). ‘Men’s ODI Player of the Decade’ nominations list sported the names of Dhoni, Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka), Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka), Mitchell Starc (Australia) and AB de Villiers (South Africa). Both of the awards ultimately went to Kohli.
However, Dhoni ended up bagging the ‘ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade’. He was awarded this due to the gesture he showed in the Nottingham Test in 2011, where he called English batsman Ian Bell back to the crease after getting run out since the decision taken against Bell was incorrect.
Kohli’s unparalleled consistency and gigantic average of 59.33 across 248 ODIs is what crowned him as the Player of the Decade by ICC. Him being the only player to have scored over 10,000 runs in the test format since 2011 does not hurt either, making him the deserving candidate for this award. He had been nominated for this award across all formats but he bagged the one for the ODIs.
Australian cricketer Steve Smith won the ICC Men’s Test Player of the Decade award whereas the ICC men’s T20I Player of the Decade award was bagged by Rashid Khan from Afghanistan.
ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Decade
Steve Smith (Australia)
ViratKohli (India)
James Anderson (England)
RanganaHerath (Sri Lanka)
Joe Root (England)
Yasir Shah (Pakistan)
Kane Williamson (New Zealand)
ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Decade
Rashid Khan (Afghanistan)
ViratKohli (India)
Aaron Finch (Australia)
Chris Gayle (West Indies)
LasithMalinga (Sri Lanka)
Rohit Sharma (India)
Imran Tahir (South Africa)
ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade
2011 Winner – MS Dhoni (India)
2012 Winner – Daniel Vettori (New Zealand)
2013 Winner – MahelaJayawardene (Sri Lanka)
2014 Winner – Katherine Brunt (England)
2015 Winner – Brendon McCullum (New Zealand)
2016 Winner – Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan)
2017 Winner – Anya Shrubsole (England)
2018 Winner – Kane Williamson (New Zealand)
2019 Winner – ViratKohli (India)
India also managed to secure a fair amount of nominations in the categories for Women’s Cricket. However, Ellyse Perry from Australia swept the categories, winning ICC Women’s Player of the Decade, ODI Player of the Decade, as well as the T20I Player of the Decade award.
ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Decade
Ellyse Perry (Australia)
Mithali Raj (India)
Suzie Bates (New Zealand)
JhulanGoswami (India)
Meg Lanning (Australia)
Stafanie Taylor (West Indies)
ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Decade
Ellyse Perry (Australia)
Sophie Devine (New Zealand)
DeandraDottin (West Indies)
Alyssa Healy (Australia)
Meg Lanning (Australia)
Anya Shrubsole (England)
Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award for ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Decade
Ellyse Perry (Australia)
Mithali Raj (India)
Suzie Bates (New Zealand)
Meg Lanning (Australia)
Sarah Taylor (England)
Stafanie Taylor (West Indies)
