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Twitter went into overdrive as Team India talisman Virat Kohli became the first cricketer to claim four ICC ODI Player of the Year awards. The International Cricket Council (ICC) also named him in last year's Men's ODI Team of the Year.
The honor was announced after Virat Kohli joined the Rohit Sharma-led team in New York where the Men in Blue will begin their campaign in the 2024 T20 World Cup on June 5.
Sharing a video, the ICC showcased his accomplishments in 2023 before presenting him with the award and a special cap.
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It is worth noting that no other player in the history of cricket has won five ICC awards, while Virat Kohli has already picked up ten with the possibility of a few more trophies not being ruled out.
#Virat #Kohli is the first cricketer in history, who won 10 individual @ICC awards. Virat with 2023 #ICC player of the award and icc team camp#ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/l4W3c18Jhs
— Sanjay Sravani (@SanjuJournalist) June 3, 2024
Team India's batting mainstay, Virat Kohli, delivered the goods for the Rohit Sharma-led side in last year's Cricket World Cup as he emerged as the leading run-scorer in the quadrennial event.
He scored 765 runs with three centuries in the premier ODI competition, earning the Player of the Tournament award in the ICC World Cup.
Overall, Virat Kohli featured in 27 ODIs in the previous year, where the 35-year-old made 1,377 runs with an exceptional average of 72.47 and a highly impressive strike rate of 99.13.
En route to his 24 innings in 27 matches in 2023, he smashed six hundreds and eight half-centuries.
Meanwhile, cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar dropped a Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli bombshell ahead of Team India's T20 World Cup opener against Ireland on Wednesday.
Alongside Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli is expected to open the innings for India at the elite T20I event in the West Indies and the US which starts on June 1.
However, Sanjay Manjrekar is of the view that the national selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar shouldn't have included Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the squad.
Sanjay Manjrekar reckons that the Indian selectors have made a mistake by selecting them in the squad. Instead, they should have picked a young lot of players for the ICC competition.
“Ideally, I would not have gone that way. I would have stuck with a slightly younger core set of players. But the selectors have committed themselves to the icons, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli,” Sanjay Manjrekar told Star Sports.
“Now that they are in the squad, it is impossible to have Virat Kohli batting at number 3, because then you don't get the full value of Virat. And Rohit Sharma, as well, has to open. So, India, in a way, have forced themselves to have only one kind of combination, two right-handers. Unfortunately, Jaiswal will have to sit out,” he pointed out.
“I would have gone completely with a new lot; then, you would have had a lot more flair and it would be something different. India have trusted the seniors, a move that hasn't worked over the years. Let's hope it works this time,” Sanjay Manjrekar noted.
Sanjay Manjrekar's comments came in the aftermath of Virat Kohli showing his batting prowess as an opener during the IPL, finishing the tournament as the leading run-scorer.
During the 17th edition of the tournament, Virat Kohli made 741 runs in 15 matches, thus becoming the only batter to cross the 700-run barrier this year.
With this, Virat Kohli won the Orange Cap for the second time in the history of the IPL, having previously bagged it in 2016.
In 2016, Virat Kohli struck a phenomenal 973 runs, which remains a record in the event.
However, Virat Kohli was criticized for his batting style throughout the event, with questions being raised about his strike rate almost regularly by former cricketers.
Among two of the most vocal critics of Virat Kohli's strike rate in the IPL were the legendary Sunil Gavaskar and retired New Zealand pacer Simon Doull.
Dinesh Karthik, who hung his boots after RCB's ouster from the 2024 IPL eliminator last week pointed out that Simon Doull's criticism did impact Virat Kohli's batting performance in the event.
“Virat Kohli – well, I can write a book on how he was this year (IPL 2024). He started okay, but I think thanks to people like Simon and a few others who really spurred him on. And you don't want to see that side of Virat Kohli,” Dinesh Karthik told Cricbuzz.
“I think, he thrives on that. He is someone who, inadvertently, wants to hold onto certain things to do well. He loves proving people wrong. Even though he might not come out and say it, it fuels his passion. He is like a molten lava coming out. He is fiery and you don't want to be anywhere close to him because you are gonna get burnt for sure. He has done this time and time again,” he added.
“You can speak about RCB, their success and all of that. But it is not happening without that man, and I am not saying with his batting. It's the intimidating feeling that he gives when he is on the field. the way he pushes fielders,” the just-retired RCB star concluded.
