World T20: Proud to be named 'Player of the tournament', says Virat Kohli

Kolkata, April 3: India's premier batsman Virat Kohli was deservingly awarded the 'Man of the Tournament' for his brilliant performance in the ICC World T20, that concluded, here tonight (April 3). West Indies won the tournament.

World T20 Special Site; Photos

This is the second successive time Kohli has won the award, after he was also named as the player of the 2014 tournament in Bangladesh following his 319 runs which helped India reach the final.

It was former India captain and CAB president Sourav Ganguly, who collected the award on Kohli's behalf as the cricketer was not present in person.

Reacting to the announcement, Kohli said: "Although I'm disappointed that we were not able to make it through to the final and win the ICC World Twenty20 title on home soil, I'm proud to be named player of the tournament.

"As a team, we have all loved the experience of playing in this event in front of big, passionate home crowds and I'm pleased the tournament in India has been successfully staged.," Kohli was quoted as saying by the ICC press release.

"And I'd like to add my congratulations to the West Indies men's and women's squads for their successes," he congratulated the team.

Kohli was in sublime for throughout the tournament scoring 273 runs with a staggering average of 136.50 and an equally astounding strike-rate of 146.77 with three 50 plus scores. He hit 29 boundaries and five sixes in all.

He was second in the list of run-getters behind Tamim Iqbal of Bangladesh, who scored 295 runs. However most of Tamim's runs were scored in the qualifying tournament against associate nations.

The highlight of Kohli's three half-centuries was his unbeaten 82 not out in a successful run-chase against Australia, which is being considered as an epic T20 knock.

He also scored an unbeaten 55 against Pakistan on a square turner while his 89 not out against West Indies came in a losing cause.

During their deliberations, the members of the panel discussed several names, highlighting such players as England's Joe Root, Samuel Badree of the West Indies and Tamin Iqbal of Bangladesh, who scored more runs than any other player.

But the panel decided Kohli's crucial contributions to his team's run in the tournament were deserving of the player -of-the-tournament award.

PTI