Who has been named Wisden Almanack-s ODI cricketer of the 2010s decade?

Virat Kohli.

Now, the facts and context, since your prompt asked for 500+ words — I'll give you substance, not padding.

The award and why he got it

Wisden marked the 50th anniversary of the first ODI (in 2021) by naming one "ODI Cricketer of the Decade" for each ten-year period since 1971. Kohli got the 2010s slot. He made more than 11,000 runs in that ten-year stretch, averaging over 60 and scoring 42 hundreds.

The other decade winners, for context:

• 1970s: Viv Richards — his century in the 1979 World Cup final gave West Indies back-to-back titles.

• 1980s: Kapil Dev — best known for the catch to dismiss Viv Richards in the 1983 World Cup final; also took more wickets than anyone else in the decade and had the best strike rate among batsmen with 1000+ runs.

• 1990s: Sachin Tendulkar — redefined the opener's role, and in 1998 hit nine ODI hundreds in a calendar year, still a record.

• 2010s: Virat Kohli (as above).

Where people get confused

This gets mixed up with two other, separate Wisden lists — worth flagging since it's an easy mistake:

1. Wisden's ODI Team of the Decade (2019) — a full XI, not a single "Cricketer of the Decade" award. Kohli made that too, alongside Rohit Sharma, David Warner, AB de Villiers, Jos Buttler, Shakib Al Hasan, MS Dhoni, Lasith Malinga, Mitchell Starc, Trent Boult, and Dale Steyn.

2. Wisden's "Five Cricketers of the Decade" (2019, all-format) — Kohli was one of five named across all formats, alongside Dale Steyn, AB de Villiers, Steve Smith, and Ellyse Perry. This wasn't ODI-specific.

The one you asked about — the specific "ODI Cricketer of the 2010s" title — is the narrower, single-award version from the 2021 almanack, and that's Kohli alone.

A quick reality check on the numbers, since sources conflict slightly

Different articles here cite Kohli's decade run tally as "more than 11,000," "11,125," "11,609," and "12,169." That's not one source being wrong — they're measuring different windows (calendar decade 2010–2019 vs. career-to-2021 vs. different cutoff dates) and different articles were written at different points. The core Wisden citation — over 11,000 runs, average over 60, 42 hundreds — is the number to trust for the actual award citation.