After the second test debacle against South Africa, where the batting unit collapsed again only for a late fightback from Rohit Sharma to save some grace, the times were not going good for the recently married Indian Cricket Team Captain. But Virat Kohli had something to cheer about on Thursday night when he was named as the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC Awards. Virat Kohli was also named the ICC Cricketer of the year and captain of both ODI and Test teams.

Kohli has been the batting mainstay of this talented Indian batting line-up. He had amassed 1460 runs in 26 innings and at a humongous average of 76.84 with a strike rate of 99.11. During this period he scored 6 centuries and led India to the final of Champions Trophy. He was also there to lead India to ODI series wins over England, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand and Test series wins over Bangladesh, Australia and Sri Lanka (twice).

Many records tumbled during the record breaking year. When he scored his 31st ODI hundred he went past Ricky Ponting in the all time ODI centurion list and is now at second position. During the course of his 32nd century he became the fastest to reach to the milestone of 9,000 runs and the most successful captain in an year, surpassing the Australian great Ricky Ponting. Kohli also regained the top position in ICC rankings for ODI batsmen. ICC had listed out Kohli's achievements and tipped him to surpass the record 49ODI tons scored by Sachin Tendulkar.

Kohli posted a video message thanking his supporters and mentioned that he was honoured to win the Sir Garfield Sobers award. This is also the first time since 2009 that an Indian player has been named captain for both the formats with MS Dhoni being the last one to achieve this feat. Kohli has been the pride of the country and ever since the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar and his incredible record justifies the comparision. Carrying the hopes and expectations of a billion people is no mean feat and getting this prestigious award adds another feather in the cap of soon to be one of the greatest players to have played the game.