Indian cricket team skipper Virat Kohli and star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had a day to cherish as they were honoured by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for their contribution to cricket in the year 2015-2016.
The awards were announced today but the ceremony will be held in Bengaluru on March 8, 2017.
While Kohli won the Polly Umrigar Award which is given to the international cricketer of the year, Ashwin was presented with the Dilip Sardesai award which was instituted to honour the best performance in the bilateral Test series between India and West Indies.
Kohli had already won the award in 2011-2012 and then in 2014-2015 and now becomes the only cricketer to have won the award thrice. Kohli had a phenomenal 2016 where he scored 1940 international runs second only to England’s Joe Root. Such was his form that he scored double tons against West Indies, New Zealand and then England in three back to back series. He scored another one against Bangladesh, this year and now has a double ton in four consecutive series. Alongside this, Kohli also amassed 973 runs in the 2016 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) where he smashed 4 centuries.
The Chennai-born tweaker, Ashwin too had previously won the Dilip Sardesai award in 2011 and has now become the first cricketer to win it twice because of his recent man-of-the-series performance in the Caribbean. He picked up 17 wickets in the four match Test series where he also scored truckloads of runs with the bat. His exploits with the ball continued against New Zealand and England too in 2016 where he was India’s no.1 strike bowler.
Mumbai Cricket Association was named the State Association of the Season (2015-16) for winning the coveted Ranji Trophy where they beat Saurashtra in the final, CK Nayudu Trophy & Women’s Plate League.
The BCCI Annual Awards committee consisting of N. Ram, Ramachandra Guha and Diana Edulji nominated Rajinder Goel and Padmakar Shivalkar for the Col. C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award.
Also, Shanta Rangaswamy will become the first woman cricketer to be conferred the lifetime achievement award.
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