Virat Kohli named ICC Cricketer of the Year

Indian captain Virat Kohli has been awarded the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year, besides bagging the top honour for ODI players in the ICC annual awards, announced in Dubai.

"It means a lot to win the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for becoming the ICC Cricketer of the Year 2017 and also the ICC ODI Player of the Year," Kohli was quoted as saying in an ICC statement.

"I won that back in 2012 also but it's the first time winning the Garfield Sobers Trophy, and it's a huge honour for me. It's probably the biggest of all in world cricket and two Indians getting it back-to-back makes it more special," he added.

The Indian captain had a prolific 2017 scoring three double centuries in Tests.

Kohli hit one Test double century against Bangladesh and two against Sri Lanka in the recently concluded home series. 

According to ICC rules, the award lists the period between September 21, 2016 to the end of 2017 before announcing the award, in the same period Kohli scored 2,203 Test runs at an average of over 70.

In ODIs, the star batsman hit 1,818 runs at an average of 82.63 including seven centuries.

In T20s, the Indian captain scored 299 runs at a strike-rate of 153.

This is the second time in succession that an Indian won the overall cricketer of the year award. Off-spinner R Ashwin had claimed the honour last year.

It was Kohli's second gong at the 2017 ICC Awards, with the 29-year-old also being named the ODI Player of the Year.

Kohli was also named captain of the ICC Test and ODI teams of the year.

Australian captain Steve Smith claimed the Test Player of the Year honour after scoring 1875 runs in 16 matches at an average of 78.12, with eight hundreds and five 50s.

This is the first instance since 2013 that the ODI Cricketer of the Year award has been won by a non-South African, with Quinton de Kock receiving the accolade for 2016 and AB de Villiers winning it in 2014 and 2015.

(With inputs from PTI)