This is the most important award of the cricketing year as it comes from the parent board ICC and this award the Men’s Cricketer of the Year is the most prestigious of them all. It is named after one of the greatest all round cricketers of all time in Sir Garfield Sobers and it was first started in 2004.
These awards were first started in the year 2004 and with the exception of 2020, they have been given out every year. So, let’s take a look at all the winners since 2004.
2004: Rahul Dravid -
In the first year that they were introduced the inaugural winner of this prestigious award was the legendary Indian batter Rahul Dravid as his performances in the year 2004 were simply outstanding and there was no other cricketer close to him. He immediately became the poster child of these awards and all the other players wanted to be the next one to follow this great player.
2005: Jacques Kallis and Andrew Flintoff-
In the 2nd year since its inception, there were Two players that were awarded this honor and it is the only year when there have been two winners in this category and this shows how extraordinary both of these cricketers played that they had to give it to Two people at the same time.
2006: Ricky Ponting-
What followed after 2005 were Two years that were dominated by the great Australia batter Ricky Ponting and he was the best batter and captain in the world in the year 2006 and he very much deserved this high honor.
2007: Ricky Ponting-
Another year and another best cricketer of the year award for the great Ricky Ponting and this year he led the Australian team to back to back world cup wins in dominating fashion and his own performances were outstanding as usual and he was the best again all year.
2008: Shivnarine Chanderpaul-
In 2008 this great batter from the West Indies broke the Two year monopoly of Ricky Ponting of this award as in the year 2008 Shivnarine Chanderpaul was the undisputed best cricketer and frankly there was no other worthy winner that year.
2009: Mitchell Johnson-
Then came the year 2009 and after all the batters had gotten the award fir all these years it was the time for the bowlers to get some recognition as Mitchell Johnson from Australia broke the batters hold on this award and showed that a bowler can also win this award as well if they perform in a consistent level throughout the year.
2010: Sachin Tendulkar-
It can be said that better late than never for the winner of this year’s Winner as Sachin Tendulkar should have got one way earlier and if this award was introduced in the 1990s then Sachin would have swept the decade easily but this was a just reward for his incredible performance in the year 2010.
2011- Jonathon Trott-
2011 was the year of Jonathon Trott as he was the batter who showed the most class and was the most consistent for England throughout the whole year especially his performance in test cricket was outstanding. There was no debate on this choice for the year 2011.
2012: Kumar Sangakkara-
Like the case with Sachin, the same can be said for Kumar Sangakkara as he has been a very consistent player for Sri Lanka over the years but his performance In the year 2012 was above anyone else and finally he got this much coveted award which he so deserved.
2013: Michael Clarke-
Another great Australia batter and captain won this award after Ricky Ponting and his performances in the year 2013 were outstanding and his leadership skills were amazing as well so he got his just rewards that year.
2014: Mitchell Johnson-
The only bowler to win this award twice in his illustrious career and it shows his longevity and his incredible skills that after 5 years after he won this award for the first time , his astonishing performance in the year 2024 left the ICC no choice but to again give him the best cricketer of the year award.
2015: Steve Smith-
He might be one of the few players that have got this award based on their performances in just one format all year and it shows how incredible of a test player he is and how great his test record in 2015 was that he was the unanimous choice of everybody that year.
2016: Ravichandran Ashwin-
Ravichandran Ashwin was one player who used to perform consistently every year especially in test cricket and in the year 2016 he was the best cricketer of that year and he picked up so many wickets that he was the only pick that year.
2017: Virat Kohli-
After so many years after this award was introduced it was the time of Virat Kohli to get what he rightfully deserves, he was the best cricketer in the world for a number of years but in 2017 he could not be ignored any further as he put up a mountain of runs in every format.
2018: Virat Kohli-
After 2017 again in 2018, Virat Kohli again won the award for the best cricketer of the year award and yet again there was no doubt that he was the only one who deserved it as he was going through a purple patch that time and no one was close to him.
2019: Ben Stokes-
This was one of the easiest winners to choose as the year that Ben Stokes had in 2019 only happens once in a blue moon. His performance in the 2019 World Cup as well as that 135* at Headingley was enough to seal this award for him.
2021: Shaheen Afridi-
He became the first player from Pakistan to win this prestigious award and he deserved it as well. His performances in the test format as well as the white ball format was simply exceptional and he will only get better with age as he is so young.
