Hat-trick of Wisden honours for India captain Virat Kohli

India captain Virat Kohli has bagged three honours from Wisden. Kohli is among the top batsmen of the decade along with Australian Steve Smith

Hat-trick Wisden honours India captain Virat Kohli

Team Newsable

Bengaluru, First Published Dec 26, 2019, 11:49 AM IST

Bengaluru: India captain Virat Kohli has received three honours as the year 2019 comes to an end. The Delhi right-hander has been named among the five cricketers of the decade by Wisden and is also a part of Test and ODI teams of the decade.

The 31-year-old Kohli, who has shattered many records in his illustrious international career, recently led India to a 2-1 ODI series win over the West Indies in Cuttack.

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Wisden hailed Kohli for excelling under “daily pressure”. “His 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. 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.”

Hat-trick Wisden honours India captain Virat Kohli

It added, “In many ways, there isn’t. Since the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar and the gradual waning of MS Dhoni, no cricketer in the world has operated under such daily pressure as Kohli. His marriage to Bollywood star Anushka Sharma has turned up the heat to another level, and Kohli has told the story of a trip to Iceland, where they were enjoying some rare anonymity… only to be recognised by a delighted Indian family in a coffee shop.”

Kohli was also named the captain of the Wisden’s Test team of the decade. He also features in the ODI team of the decade unveiled by Wisden. MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma are the other two Indians in ODI team.