The International Cricket Council (ICC) has awarded Indian opener Rohit Sharma as the ‘2019 ODI Cricketer of the Year’ for his incredible run of form throughout the past year. In the meantime, India skipper and Captain Virat Kohli won the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ award for his gesture towards Steve Smith for the duration of World Cup.
ICC Awards 2019
The 32-year-old Rohit said on this achievement, “It is great to be recognised in this fashion. We are very happy with the way we performed as a team in 2019. We could have done better but we have a lot of positives and a lot to look forward to in 2020,”
Rohit had an unforgettable 2019 when he scored 10 hundreds across formats. Not only this, he also brought up seven ODI centuries, five of which came in the 2019 World Cup, and become the first batsman to do so in the history of the competition in a single edition.
Throughout India’s World Cup clash against Australia at the Oval, Kohli won everyone’s heart by asking the fans to stop booing Smith, who had made his first return to International cricket after serving a one-year ban over ball-tampering scandal. Not only this, Kohli was also awarded as the captain of both the ICC’s Test and ODI teams of the year.
Rohit Sharma named ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year
In addition to that, Kohli was also surprised to win the Spirit of Cricket Award as well as explained his reasons for supporting Smith the way he did. “It is part of camaraderie that sportsmen must have with each other,” Kohli said.
He further added, “That moment was purely understanding an individual’s situation. I don’t think a guy who is coming out of a situation like that needs to be taken advantage of. You can sledge, can have have banter on the field, you say things to the opposition in wanting to beat them. But booing someone is not in the spirit of any sport, I don’t endorse it.”
Another India seamer Deepak Chahar also won the T20 International Performance of the Year. Chahar said “Taking six wickets conceding only seven runs was a dream performance for me and will always remain close to my heart,”
Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne was awarded as Emerging Cricketer of the Year, while Scotland’s Kyle Coetzer on the other hand was declared the Associate Cricketer of the Year.
Here is the full list of ICC Award Winners:
Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for Best Cricketer of the Year – Ben Stokes (England)
Test Cricketer of the Year – Pat Cummins (Australia)
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Rohit Sharma (India)
T20I Performance of the Year – Deepak Chahar (India, 6-7 v Bangladesh)
Emerging Cricketer of the Year – Marnus Labuschagne (Australia)
Associate Cricketer of the Year – Kyle Coetzer (Scotland)
Spirit of Cricket Award – Virat Kohli for stopping the fans booing Steve Smith at the Oval
David Shepherd Trophy for Umpire of the Year – Richard Illingworth
Women’s Cricketer of the Year: Ellyse Perry (Australia)
Women’s ODI Player of the Year: Ellyse Perry (Australia)
Women’s T20I Player of the Year: Alyssa Healy (Australia)
Women’s Emerging Player of the Year: Chanida Sutthiruang (Thailand)
