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Virat Kohli sweeps top honours at ICC Awards

Virat Kohli sweeps top honours at ICC Awards
© Reuters
The India skipper scored over 1,000 runs in both Test and one-day cricket.

Virat Kohli has become the first man to claim the top three prizes at the ICC Awards after a remarkable 2018.

The India captain lifted the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Cricketer of the Year and was also named the Men's Test and ODI Player of the Year.

The 30-year-old scored 1,322 runs, including five centuries, at an average of 55.08 in 13 Tests and 1,202 at an astonishing 133.55 with six hundreds in one-day internationals.

Kohli said: "It feels amazing. It's a reward for all the hard work that you do throughout the calendar year.

"I feel really grateful and very, very happy with the team doing well at the same time myself performing.

"Having recognition at the global level from the ICC is something you feel proud of as a cricketer because you understand that there are many players playing the game."

Kohli was named captain of both the Test and ODI teams of the year and although England did not have a representative in the former, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes all made the latter.

Australia's Aaron Finch hits a six against England at Old Trafford
Australia's Aaron Finch hits a six against England at Old Trafford (Mike Egerton/PA)

Aaron Finch's world record 172-run T20 score against Zimbabwe has won him the Performance of the Year award for the second time.

The 32-year-old Australia opener plundered 16 fours and 10 sixes as he smashed his own record of 156 during his 76-ball onslaught in Harare in July last year to regain the prize he won in 2013-14.

Finch said: "It was just one of those days that things seemed to go my way, so it was nice to break my own record and get a 172.

"After I got a hundred and I started to middle consistently, that is when I knew it was going to be a big one. It all happened pretty quick."

India's 21-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant was named Emerging Player of the Year after launching his Test career with a six and never looking back.

He scored a century and two fifties on his way to a total of 537 runs in eight Tests during the voting period and claimed 40 catches and two stumpings, and also contributed in one-day international and T20 matches.

Scotland batsman Calum MacLeod claimed the award for Associate Player of the Year after his unbeaten knock of 157 against Afghanistan in Bulawayo and his 140 not out against England.

MacLeod said: "It is a huge honour to win the ICC Associate Player of the Year award. It has been a really special year for me personally. I thank the ICC, Cricket Scotland, my team-mates and all the fans to making it a year I won't forget."

New Zealand's Kane Williamson in action
New Zealand's Kane Williamson in action (Nigel French/PA)

New Zealand's Kane Williamson claimed the Spirit of Cricket award, while Sri Lankan Kumar Dharmasena was voted Umpire of the Year.

India's victory in the Under-19s World Cup in New Zealand was deemed the Fans' Moment of the Year.

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