To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first One-Day International, five ODI cricketers of the decade have been named in the 2021 edition of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.
One cricketer has been named for each of the decades between 1971 and 2021, with India captain Virat Kohli taking the award for the 2010s. He made more than 11,000 runs in the ten-year stretch, averaging over 60 and scoring 42 hundreds. The decade began with him winning the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011, and he added a Champions Trophy title two years later, top scoring in the final. In five global ICC 50-over tournaments in the decade, Kohli and India never fell before the semi-final stage.
Muttiah Muralitharan was named the ODI Cricketer of the 2000s. He helped Sri Lanka make the World Cup final in 2011 and claimed 335 wickets in the decade, more than any other bowler has in a single decade.
Sachin Tendulkar was named the ODI Cricketer of the 1990s. He revolutionised the role of the opener in this period, starting with a pyrotechnic 49-ball 82 in his first innings at the top of the order against New Zealand in March 1994. In 1998, he made nine ODI hundreds, more than any other batsman in a single calendar year ever has.
For the 1980s, Kapil Dev was the cricketer to take the award. His most famous moment in that decade was the catch to dismiss Viv Richards in the 1983 World Cup final, giving India a momentous upset against a West Indies team gunning for a third straight title. He also claimed more wickets than any other in the decade, and scored at the highest strike-rate of any batsman with more than 1000 runs.
It’s Richards himself who claimed the prize in the 1970s, the first decade of ODI cricket. West Indies were the dominant side of the format’s early years, with Richards’ century in the 1979 Cricket World Cup final giving them a second successive triumph.
The 2021 edition of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack is out now.
