ICC Awards: MS Dhoni Wins Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has won the Spirit of Cricket Award for the Decade for his gesture towards English batsman Ian Bell during Trent Bridge Test match in 2011. Ian Bell was given run out but the bizarre turn of events preceding the run out had infuriated the crowd.  With the situation getting awkward by the minute, the then Indian captain MS Dhoni quickly recalled Bell back to the crease. This gesture won hearts of many in the crowd especially the Barmy Army.

Meanwhile Virat Kohli has been named the ODI, Rashid Khan and Steve Smith have been named the T20I and Test Cricketers of the Decade by the ICC this afternoon.

Also read: ICC Awards-- Rashid Khan is T20I Cricketer of the Decade

🇮🇳 MS DHONI wins the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade 👏👏

The former India captain was chosen by fans unanimously for his gesture of calling back England batsman Ian Bell after a bizarre run out in the Nottingham Test in 2011.#ICCAwards | #SpiritOfCricket pic.twitter.com/3eCpyyBXwu

— ICC (@ICC) December 28, 2020

Earlier on Sunday, the ICC had announced the teams of the decade in Test, ODI and T20I cricket. Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin are the two Indians who feature in the Test team of the decade, with Kohli named as the skipper of the Test side. Meanwhile, the ODI and T20I sides are led by MS Dhoni.

Rohit Sharma, Kohli, Dhoni and Jasprit Bumrah are the Indian players in at least one of the white-ball formats, while Ashwin and Kohli are the only Indians in the Test team.

The T20I team has two Australians (Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell), two West Indians (Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard), one South African (AB de Villiers) and one player each from Afghanistan (Rashid Khan) and Sri Lanka (Lasith Malinga).

The ODI team of the decade features all the above mentioned Indians sans Jasprit Bumrah, with Dhoni once again named as the skipper. Besides them it features two players each from South Africa (AB de Villiers and Imran Tahir) and Australia (David Warner and Mitchell Starc) as well as one player from Bangladesh (Shakib al Hasan), England (Ben Stokes), New Zealand (Trent Boult) and Sri Lanka (Lasith Malinga).

Kohli was named the captain of the Test team of the XI, with Ashwin the other Indian player in the side. Englishmen dominate the team with four of them: Alastair Cook, Ben Stokes, James Anderson and Stuart Broad in the line up.

Notably and perhaps surprisingly, there was no player from Pakistan in any of the sides.

ICC Men's T20I Team of the Decade: Rohit Sharma, Chris Gayle, Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli, AB De Villiers, Glenn Maxwell, MS Dhoni (c, wk), Kieron Pollard, Rashid Khan, Jasprit Bumrah, Lasith Malinga

ICC Men's ODI Team of the Decade: Rohit Sharma, David Warner, Virat Kohli, AB De Villiers, Shakib al Hasan, MS Dhoni (c), Ben Stokes, Mitchell Starc, Trent Boult, Imran Tahir, Lasith Malinga

ICC Men's Test Team of the Decade: Alastair Cook, David Warner, Kane Williamson, Virat Kohli (c), Steve Smith, Kumar Sangakkara, Ben Stokes, R Ashwin, Dale Steyn, Stuart Broad, James Anderson.

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