News Top Night

The young cricketer from Team India, Virat Kohli must be the happiest man on earth on Saturday nigh, as his dream run in the last one years play helped him to win the ODI Cricketer of the Year award, however, Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara won three awards including the Cricketer of the Year, in the ICC annual awards.

The Sri Lankan wicketkeeper-batsman also walked away with Cricketer of the Year, in the ICC annual awards.

The young talent from India, Virat Kohli has so far played 31 ODIs scoring 1,733 runs with a superb average of 66.65, which also includes 6 hundreds and 6 fifties.

The highest individual score of Virat Kohli is 183 runs against Pakistan in the Asia Cup on March 18.

Kohli won the award beating Indian captain MS Dhoni, Sangakkara and Sri Lanka`s pace spearhead Lasith Malinga.

After winning the award, Virat Kohli said, “I think I have tried to keep things as simple as possible and it`s worked for me on the field. This year has been a learning curve along the way from the seniors in the team. It`s been an all-round effort and I`m very happy to have won this award.”

Kohli said, “It`s always nice to be recognised by the ICC and it`s a great feeling and it`s the first time I`ve won one of these awards and it feels great.”

On the other hand, Kumar Sangakkara acored 1,444 runs in the last 14-Tests with an average of 60.16, including 5 hundreds and equal number of fifties. He played 37 ODIs scoring 1,457 runs with an average at 42.85.

Talking to media, he said, “This is an amazing honour and I`ve seen the people who have won it before me and the nominees too, to be named alongside them is wonderful.”

Further, he said, “I have to thank all who have supported me, especially my father who always guided me growing up and continues to do so, my wife and children, my teammates and coaches.”

List of winners:

Cricketer of the Year: Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)

Test Cricketer of the Year: Kumar Sangakkara

ODI Cricketer of the Year: Virat Kohli (India)

Emerging Cricketer of the Year: Sunil Narine (West Indies)

Spirit of Cricket Award: Daniel Vettori (New Zealand)

T20 International Performance of the Year: Richard Levi (South Africa)

Umpire of the Year: Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka)

People`s Choice Award: Kumar Sangakkara

Women`s ODI Cricketer of the Year: Stafanie Taylor (West Indies)

Women`s T20 Cricketer of the Year: Sarah Taylor (England)

Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year: George Dockrell (Ireland).