Tendulkar on Kohli’s ICC triumph: No surprises at all, you deserved it
Sachin Tendulkar has heaped praise on skipper Virat Kohli who bagged most of the honours at the ICC annual awards this year after an eventful 2017. The 29-year-old was also named the captain of both the ICC's Test as well as ODI teams of the year after guiding India to back-to-back series wins.
One of the silver linings in the disappointing series loss against the Proteas was Virat Kohli’s hard-fought 153 in the second Test match. The individual brilliance helped the Indian skipper to cross the 900-point mark in Test rankings, making him only the second player after Sunil Gavaskar to achieve that feat.
During the voting period from September 21, 2016, to 2017, Kohli had scored a whopping 2,203 Test runs at an average of 77.80 including eight centuries. He accumulated another 1,818 runs in the one-day format that included seven centuries. They were enough for the media to draw comparisons between him and India's batting legend, Tendulkar. The Master Blaster was surely impressed by it and decided to publicly admire the skipper.
"No surprises there at all. You deserved it. Many congratulations @imVkohli!", tweeted Tendulkar on his official Twitter handle.
No surprises there at all. You deserved it. Many congratulations, @imVkohli! #ICCAwards @ICC
— sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) January 18, 2018
The Delhi lad also received the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy after being named ICC Cricketer of the Year - the second Indian in succession after Ravichandran Ashwin bagged it last year - and ODI Cricketer of the Year. Kohli is also only the fourth Indian to win the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy, following the footsteps of batting greats Tendulkar (2010), Rahul Dravid (2004) and Ashwin (2016).
Virat Kohli gave the Indian supporters a reason to smile as they were in low-spirits after the recent loss versus the South Africans.
"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." Kohli said in a statement.
India also emerged as the world's best Test side in 2017 under Kohli, with an unbroken series winning streak at home. He also leads the ODI and Twenty20 teams for the sub-continent.
