We have discussed in the previous articles about the winners of the ICC Men’s Cricketer and Test player of the year awards and some incredible names have got recognized by the ICC for their outstanding performances during that year. The ODI format is one format where there have been a few players who have dominated these Awards.
This award was also started by the ICC in the year 2004 and the best of ODI cricket over the years have been rewarded over the years and will be continued to do so for years to come. Let’s take a look at the winners of the various years.
2004: Andrew Flintoff –
The initial winner of the ICC Men’s ODI Player of the year award was an all rounder from England and it was the era of Freddie Flintoff In the ODIs during that time and he was a very worthy first winner of this Award.
2005: Kevin Pietersen-
Another winner from England in the best ODI player of the year category and this time it was the great batter Kevin Pietersen and frankly he was the best ODI batter in the world in 2005 and there was no other winner other than him.
2006: Michael Hussey-
Then came the year 2006 and finally England's hold on the award was broken by a very special player from Australia called Michael Hussey. He is called Mr Cricket for a reason and he showed why in the year 2006 in ODIs and rightfully he won the best ODI player of the year award.
2007: Matthew Hayden-
Another destructive Australia opening batter and this time it was the opening batter Matthew Hayden who won this coveted prize and in 2007 there were many strong contenders and among them he was a very worthy winner.
2008: MS Dhoni-
After years of English and Aussie dominance it was the turn of India to get recognized on the world stage and it was the captain and outstanding ODI player MS Dhoni who won this prestigious award and he was the most deserving one out of everyone.
2009: MS Dhoni-
Another year of the dominance of MS Dhoni and it was the time of this extraordinary ODI cricketer from India to sis the world and become the first player to win this award back to back.
2010: AB De Villiers-
Finally this genius could not be ignored any longer as it was the time of AB De Villiers to get his much deserved recognition and he performed so well that he left the ICC no other choice than to give it to him in 2010.
2011: Kumar Sangakkara-
In a year where there were many strong ODI performances by a lot of players, it was Kumar Sangakkara who stood out with his batting and leadership skills and he was a most worthy winner in a stacked year.
2012: Virat Kohli-
From this year began the era of Virat Kohli in the ODI format and this award was the first of many he would receive from the ICC and even at so young he outperformed the greats of the game to win his first ODI player of the year award and there was no arguments against it.
2013: Kumar Sangakkara-
After 2011, it was the time of the great Kumar Sangakkara to be given this prize as he performed better than he did in 2011 and showing why he is once in a special player to have played.
2014: AB De Villiers-
After a gap of few years it was again the turn of the genius to get his 2nd ODI player of the year award and he thoroughly deserved to win in 2014 as he was simply the best in the world that year.
2015: AB De Villiers-
With this historic 3rd win in this category he became the first ever player to win 3 of these year end Awards in the ODI format thus showing how extraordinary of a player he truly was and how lucky we were to see him at his prime.
2016: Quinton De Kock-
Another South Africa player other than ABD winning this award is nice because it shows the strength of that country in ODI cricket and QDK was the rightful winner in 2016 as he was the most consistent and the best player in the world.
2017: Virat Kohli-
After a gap of 5 years , Virat Kohli was back at the top of ODI cricket and in 2017 his numbers were just outrageous and he left no other choice than to give the award to him. He has been the best in ODI cricket for a long time.
2018: Virat Kohli-
After AB De Villiers, Virat Kohli became the 2nd player in history to win 3 best ODI player of the year awards and there was simply no one there to stop him as he was just scoring hundreds for fun so it was no surprise that he got it.
2019: Rohit Sharma-
This was probably one of the easiest ones to give to as because simply Rohit Sharma’s performance at the 2019 ODI world cup was enough to give it to him that year and even Virat Kohli was a little behind his teammate.
2021: Babar Azam-
The first player from Pakistan to get thus high honor and there could not have been anyone better than Babar to get it as he was the best ODI player in 2021 and he led Pakistan very well and got a lot of runs as well so it was an easy decision to make.
