A decade that began with an Indian captain lifting the ICC World Cup ended with another Indian skipper dominating all the ICC “decade of the year awards”. A decade that saw the Englishmen claiming what is rightfully theirs and a decade that made an Afghani cricketer a world superstar. The same decade saw the rise and fall of Australia’s Steve Smith- from a spinner to one of the best batsmen in the world and then facing a shameful ban. The decade where Ben Stokes lost and won World Cups for his side. The decade had a lot to offer.
The last decade was a make or break period for many cricketers. While some players announced their names to the world of cricket, some said goodbye to their favorite sport.
We at Stumpsandbails are bringing you our best batsmen from the past decade.
1. Virat Kohli
India’s skipper was a unanimous selection for the player of the decade among the Stumpsandbails team. 32-year-old Virat Kohli racked up more international runs than any other player in the decade: 20,960 to be precise.
Now let’s have a look at the 2nd and 3rd contenders
2. AB de Villiers
Former South African skipper AB de Villiers received the status of MR.360 in the past decade. The RCB star literally toyed with bowlers all around the world with his incredible variation of shots all over the pitch.
3. Rohit Sharma
Indian opener Rohit Sharma was one of the best, if not the best, limited-over batsmen of the last decade. He is the only batsman in the history of cricket to score three 200+ scores in ODI format.
Now let’s compare Virat Kohli’s figures with the rest two
Virat Kohli scored a total of 11,036 runs in the past decade compared to AB de Villiers’ 6485 runs and Sharma’s 7991 runs. The Indian skipper batted on an average of 61.36 since January 2010, while ABD maintained an average of 64.20 which is better than Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s 52.92.
Virat Kohli smashed 42 hundred and 51 half-centuries in the past decade. AB de Villiers is the fastest player to score 50, 100, and 150 in the history of ODI. Rohit Sharma made a total of 27 ODI tons, making him the second-highest player behind Kohli.
