Virat Kohli named in ‘Cricketers of the decade’ list by Wisden

India captain Virat Kohli continued to rule the cricketing world as Wisden Cricketers’ Almanac named him in the list of the ‘cricketers of the decade’ along with four others. Besides the ace batsman, South Africa’s former Test cricketer Dale Steyn and retired batsman AB de Villiers, Australia’s Steve Smith and all-rounder Ellyse Perry also found a place in the prestigious list.

India captain Virat Kohli has been named in the ‘Cricketers of the decade’ list alongside four others by the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanac. Kohli, 31, has scored 5,775 international runs more than any other batsman in the last 10 years and is ranked along with the former greats of the game. He now has 70 international hundreds, just 30 less from compatriot Sachin Tendulkar’s record 100 tons. Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has 71 international hundreds.

Kohli, who also has been leading India impressively across formats and is his country’s most successful skipper in Tests already, was also named the captain of the Wisden Test team of the decade and featured in the ODI XI as well. The right-hander averages over 50 in all formats and scored his best 94 not out in a T20 recently against the West Indies.

Virat Kohli made his ODI debut in 2008

“He is genius has been to rise, time and again, to the challenge. Between the end of the England tour in 2014 and the second Test against Bangladesh at Kolkata in November, Kohli averaged 63, with 21 hundreds and 13 fifties,” Wisden wrote.

“It left him with a unique set of statistics – the only batsman to average at least 50 in all three international formats. Even Steve Smith was moved to remark recently that there is no one quite like him.” Kohli is the No.1 batsman in Tests and ODIs while in the T20Is, he is at No.10.

The legendary cricket book, also called the game’s ‘Bible’, said not any player since Tendulkar’s retirement and the gradual fading of Mahendra Singh Dhoni has played under as pressure as Kohli.

Kohli made his international debut in 2008 (in ODIs) and went on to scale mountains of runs in the last 11 years. He has amassed over 21,000 runs in international cricket and scored over 100 fifties. Only Tendulkar with over 34,000 runs and Ponting with over 27,000 runs are ahead of Kohli’s aggregate of runs in international cricket.

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