India batter Virat Kohli took home the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year after a stellar 2023. Kohli finished the year with 1,377 runs at 72.47, which included six tons and eight fifties. However, it was his performance at the World Cup at home that stood out.
The former skipper amassed 765 runs at the mega event, smashing nine fifty-plus scores in 11 innings, including the final, which India lost to Australia. No player has scored more runs than Kohli in a single edition of a World Cup.
During the tournament, Kohli also reached his 50th ODI century, going past Sachin Tendulkar's record during their semi-final win over New Zealand.
"It's stuff of dreams, Anushka was sitting right there, Sachin paaji was there in the stands," Kohli during the innings break after scoring 117 off 113 against New Zealand in the World Cup semi-final in Mumbai.
Australia skipper Pat Cummins was won Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Men's Cricketer of the Year 2023. Under Cummins, Australia won the WTC and the ODI World Cup title - beating India in the final on both occasions. Overall, Cummins picked up and 59 wickets in and scored 422 runs 24 matches across formats in 2023.
Meanwhile, Suryakumar Yadav was awarded the ICC T20I Player of the Year award, while Usman Khawaja took home the honour in Tests. Surya, who led India in the five-match T20I series straight after the World Cup, scored 733 runs at a strike-rate of 155.95, which included two tons and five fifties in 17 innings.
Khawaja, on the other hand, was the only batter in 2023 to score over 1,000 runs (1,210), getting there at an average of 52.60 with the help of three centuries and and six fifties. Khawaja was part of the victorious Australian side that won the WTC final in June last year at The Oval.