- Kohli, who will lead India's World Cup campaign in England later this year, has been named as the Leading Cricketer in the World for an unprecedented third year in a row.
- He has also achieved one of the few accolades to have eluded him in his career so far, by being named as one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year, the oldest individual award in the sport.
- Kohli's fellow Indian, Smriti Mandhana, is the Leading Cricketer in the women's game, after racking up 1291 runs across limited-overs formats.
India captain Virat Kohli was named the ‘Leading Cricketer in the World’ for the third time in a row in this year’s edition of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, the publication said on Wednesday.
Kohli, 30, was also named as one of Wisden’s five cricketers of the year along with England’s Jos Buttler and Sam Curran, County Championship-winning captain Rory Burns and Tammy Beaumont from the England women’s team.
Congratulations to the Wisden Five Cricketers of the Year 2019.@Tammy_Beaumont @roryburns17 @josbuttler @CurranSM @imVkohli #wisden2019 #Cricket https://t.co/UbTUV0WYKX pic.twitter.com/ZuDaYnuOvo
— Wisden Almanack (@WisdenAlmanack) 10 April 2019
Kohli’s double at the Wisden Almanack 2019
Kohli, who scored only 134 runs during India’s previous tour of England in 2014, amassed 593 runs in his side’s five-test series last year at an average of over 59 to book his place on the list.
“Despite finishing on the losing side, India captain Virat Kohli shone with the bat, laying to rest his struggles in England in 2014,” Wisden editor Lawrence Booth said.
“His test batting, especially in England, was magnificent, while his 50-over form moved to a new level if that was possible.”
“And when a video of him batting in the Adelaide nets was viewed, within hours, over a million times on Twitter, it confirmed modern-day truth: when Kohli is batting, you daren’t look away.”https://t.co/QjiwihAria
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) 10 April 2019
Highlighting his achievements outside the England series, it added, “Virat Kohli wins [Leading Cricketer of the Year] for an unprecedented third year in a row, scoring 2,735 runs across the international formats – more than 700 clear of Joe Root in second place. His Test batting, especially in England, was magnificent, while his 50-over form moved to a new level – if that was possible.”
Kohli, who also won the ICC’s cricketer, test and one-day international player of the year awards in January, scored runs across all three international formats in 2018 at an average of 68.37, which included 11 centuries.
3️⃣ years on the trot!@imVkohli is @WisdenAlmanack‘s Leading Cricketer in the World! pic.twitter.com/wXbyKeNfVv
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) 10 April 2019
Smriti, Curran, Butler in the list too
‘The way Virat finishes matches, I would like to take a leaf out of it’ – @mandhana_smriti wants to put a price on her wicket and stay at the crease longer, like @imVkohli.
READ ⏬https://t.co/RJkrDEqcQj pic.twitter.com/6JG49cEUTA
— ICC (@ICC) 10 April 2019
India’s Smriti Mandhana, who scored 1,291 runs in limited overs, was named the Leading Cricketer in the women’s game while Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan was named the Leading Twenty20 Cricketer for the second consecutive year.
‘Her equanimous approach to the defeat by England in the 2017 World Cup final is a case in point: “I only thought about it for half an hour.” The results speak for themselves.’https://t.co/WYLU8lPoTT
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) 10 April 2019
Jos Buttler and Sam Curran were also named among the five cricketers, following their key roles in England’s summer campaigns, alongside Rory Burns, Surrey’s championship-winning captain, and Tammy Beaumont the outstanding player in another successful year for England’s women.
The Wisden Almanack
The winners were announced with the release of the 156th edition of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack on Wednesday, 10 April. The Cricketer of the Year awards, a tradition of the Almanack first introduced in 1889, recognise excellence of players who have performed in England during the previous summer; a player can win it only once in their lifetime.
The Leading Cricketer of the Year honours are more recent, and serve as a felicitation to international performances, with no restrictions on the number of wins.
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