ICC Awards 2019 | It is great to be recognized with ODI player of the year, admits Rohit Sharma
The performances of Rohit Sharma were rewarded as he was named ICC ODI player of the year while Ben Stokes won world player of the year. Deepak Chahar's excellent performance against Bangladesh was the T20I performance of the year while Marnus Labuschagne won emerging player of the year.
After scoring five hundreds in the 2019 World Cup and seven overall in the 2019 calendar year, there was no debate about Rohit Sharma getting the ODI player of the year award. He was absolutely crucial to India's run till the semifinals in the tournament and was able to replicate the same form in red-ball cricket. Being one of the finest white-ball openers to play the game, Rohit took his game to another level in 2019 and would be hopeful of an even better 2020. The International Cricket Council (ICC) rewarded Rohit's 2019 white-ball season with the award 'ODI player of the year.'Â
“I would like to thank the ICC for giving me this award and the BCCI for giving me the opportunity to represent the country. It is great to be recognized in this fashion," Rohit Sharma said after receiving the award.
In the 29 ODI's that Rohit played in 2019, the right-handed opener had scored 1,490 runs at an average of 57.30, including a strike-rate of 89.92. Further, he was key to India's progression through to the semi-final stage after having a dominant effect in the group stages, scoring five hundreds. However, for Team India, the stay in England came short as they crashed out of the tournament following their semi-final loss against New Zealand.Â
"We are very happy with the way we performed as a team in 2019. We could have done better but we have a lot of positives and a lot to look forward to in 2020,” he further added.
In the other categories, Australian ace Pat Cummins received the ICC Test player of the year while teammate Marnus Labuschagne received the Emerging player of the year due to a fantastic 2019 in red-ball cricket with the bat. Deepak Chahar's brilliant performance against Bangladesh won him the T20I performance of the year award.