Virat Kohli's hard work, perseverance paid off: Sachin Tendulkar

Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar congratulated Indian skipper Virat Kohli for bagging top ICC honours on Tuesday.

While expressing that he is proud of Kohli's achievements, the master blaster said that the right-hand batsman is rewarded for his "hard work and perseverance".

Taking to his Twitter handle, Tendulkar wrote: "Hard work and perseverance always pays off. Congratulations on winning a hat-trick of awards at the #ICCAwards announced today, @imVkohli! Very proud of your achievements."

Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif also acknowledged the achievement of the Indian skipper and hoped that year 2019 would be "bigger and better" for Kohli.

"ICC Cricketer of the year

ICC ODI Cricketer of the year

ICC Test Cricketer of the year

What a 2018 it was for @imVkohli , 2019 promises to be bigger and better !" Kaif tweeted.

Cheteshwar Pujara, star performer for India in their recently-concluded Test series against Australia, expressed delight over the news and congratulated his teammate for bagging the top honours.

"Really delighted to know that @imVkohli has taken home all of the top honours at the #ICCAwards2018! Many congratulations to you!" Pujara tweeted.

Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin hailed Kohli for a "terrific" achievement and lauded his success.

"Terrific terrific achievement... Well done @imVkohli," Ashwin wrote on his Twitter handle.

Kohli is the first player to win three major ICC awards together that include ICC Cricketer of the Year award, the ICC Men's Test Player of the Year award and the ICC ODI Player of the Year award.

He has also been named the captain of the ICC Test and ODI teams of the year for a fabulous run in international cricket. Kohli scored 1,322 runs at an average of 55.08 in 13 Tests with five centuries during the calendar year while in 14 ODIs he amassed 1202 runs at an astonishing average of 133.55 with six centuries. He also scored 211 runs in 10 T20Is.

The Delhi born cricketer, who first came into limelight when he led India to victory at the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia in 2008, finished the year as the top-ranked batsman in Tests and ODIs.

The highest scorer in both forms of the game in 2018, Kohli was one of the two batsmen to have scored more than 1,000 runs in Tests and only among three to do so in ODI cricket.

-ANI