Dubai: The talismanic Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin were on Tuesday nominated for the coveted ICC Men''s Player of the Decade Award with the Indian captain featuring in all five men''s categories for his incredible run in the last 10 years. Kohli and veteran off-spinner Ashwin are the two Indians among seven players nominated for the most prestigious award. Besides the Indian duo, Joe Root (England), Kane Williamson (New Zealand), Steve Smith (Australia), AB de Villiers (South Africa), and Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) are the other contenders in this category.
In the Men''s ODI Player of the Decade category, former India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and run-machine Rohit Sharma also found a place alongside Kohli, Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka), Mitchell Starc (Australia), de Villiers and Sangakkara. Kohli and Rohit also featured in the Men''s T20I Player of the Decade category, which also included Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), Imran Tahir (South Africa), Aaron Finch (Australia), Malinga and Chris Gayle (West Indies). Kohli has also been nominated in the Men''s Test Player of the Decade and ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade categories.
Besides Kohli, Dhoni also found a place in the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade award category. Kohli, who averages more than 50 in all formats, has already amassed 70 international hundreds and is only behind Ricky Ponting (71) and Sachin Tendulkar (100). He is third in the list of leading run-scorers of all time with 21,444 runs, behind Ponting (27,483) and Tendulkar (34,357). In the past decade Kohli has amassed over 7000 runs in Tests while in the shorter formats, the Indian skipper has accumulated more than 11000 runs in ODIs and over 2600 runs in T20s. The final winners will be decided on the basis of the number of votes a player receives.
List of nominations: Men''s player of the decade: Virat Kohli (India) Ravichandran Ashwin (India), Joe Root (England), Kane Williamson (New Zealand), Steve Smith (Australia), AB de Villiers (South Africa), and Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka). Women''s ODI Player of the Decade: Meg Lanning (Australia), Ellyse Perry (Australia), Mithali Raj (India), Suzie Bates (New Zealand), Stafanie Taylor (West Indies) and Jhulan Goswami (India). Women''s Player of the Decade: Ellyse Perry (Australia), Meg Lanning (Australia), Suzie Bates (New Zealand), Stafanie Taylor (West Indies), Mithali Raj (India), Sarah Taylor (England). Men''s ODI Player of the Decade: Virat Kohli (India), Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka), Mitchell Starc (Australia), AB de Villiers, Rohit Sharma (India), MS Dhoni (India), and Kumara Sangakkara (Sri Lanka).
Men''s Test Player of the Decade: Virat Kohli (India), Kane Williamson (New Zealand), Smith, James Anderson (England), Rangana Herath (Sri Lanka), and Yasir Shah (Pakistan). Men''s T20I Player of the Decade: Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), Virat Kohli (India), Imran Tahir (South Africa), Aaron Finch (Australia), Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka), Chris Gayle (West Indies), and Rohit Sharma (India). ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade: Virat Kohli (India), Kane Williamson (New Zealand), Brendon McCullum (New Zealand), Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan), MS Dhoni (India), Anya Shrubsole (England), Katherine Brunt (England), Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka), and Daniel Vettori (New Zealand).
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