Cricket's version of the Oscars - 2017

The 89^th Academy Awards, also known as The Oscars took place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, and just like any movie, there was plenty of drama which took place during the ceremony, as the wrong film was announced as the Best Picture.

2016 was an eventful year for cricket as well as we witnessed a lot of memorable tournaments and matches being played and numerous records broken during the process. Be it the T20 World Cup held earlier this year, the Indian Premier League during the summer, or all the exciting Tests that have been played, there was no shortage of entertainment for cricket fans around the world.

Extra Cover: Cricket's version of the Oscars - 2016

So, if the Oscars were to be handed out in the cricketing world, this is how the awards would pan out:

Best Picture: Brathwaite’s four sixes in the final of the World T20

To present this award would be England’s Ben Stokes, the man who made it possible for Brathwaite’s innings to receive the award in the first place.

There were a lot of contenders for this award, including South Africa’s historic chase against Australia, India’s win against Bangladesh in the World T20, and Afghanistan upsetting West Indies in the same tournament.

However, Brathwaite smashed the other nominees out of the park for a six to take home the award for the Best picture.

To recall what happened, West Indies required 19 runs of the final over to become the first team to win two world T20s and Brathwaite was in a hurry to have some champagne, so he decided to take matters in his own hands as he smashed the first four deliveries for a six to create history.

Best Director (Coach): Russell Domingo

It is definitely not an easy task to defeat Australia in their own backyard. I mean, if you ask MS Dhoni about this, he would probably suggest you hand over the captaincy to someone else and not face the humiliation.

This is what AB De Villiers must have thought when he got “injured” and handed over the captaincy to Faf Du Plessis for the tour down under. However, Russell Domingo, the head coach of the South African cricket team who helped the Proteas achieve a lot of success before coming to Australia provided the much-needed confidence to his team and with his successful strategy to counter the Australian team, the South Africans came out victorious in both the ODI and Tests.

For an excellent second half of the year, South Africa’s head coach Russell Domingo wins the award for the Best Director.

Best cricketer (male): Virat Kohli

While Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, and Joe Root disagree with this, Virat Kohli just shuts them up by scoring another double century while collecting the award.The number of runs scored by Kohli in all three formats combined this year is probably more than most of Kohli’s teammates scored throughout the year.

With 3 centuries in ODIs, 4 in T20s, and 4 in Tests which includes 3 double tons, Virat Kohli is by far the Cricketer Of The Year. He broke numerous records during the way, some of which he might not remember himself.

Best cricketer (female): Suzie Bates

A three-time winner of the ICC Cricketer of the Year, Suzie Bates had yet another fantastic year while playing for the New Zealand cricket team.She has been playing cricket for the past 10 years and featured in 96 ODIs for the Kiwis and has scored 3430 runs in 92 innings at an average of 41.32.

She has also performed well with the ball as she has taken 72 wickets in 94 matches at an average of 29.31.

Best supporting cricketer: David Warner

Fans wonder what David Warner had to do to be nominated for the Best cricketer rather than being nominated for the supporting act. He did almost everything right this year except for captaining a side..oh wait, he did that too, and was successful at it in the IPL with the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

In the last 12 months alone, he notched up 7 ODI centuries, second most by any batsman in a calendar year after Sachin Tendulkar’s 9 ODI tons in 1998.

Unlike Sachin, who took 34 innings to score these 9 centuries in 1998, Warner scored all his runs in just 23 innings at an average of 63.09 and a strike-rate of 105.47.

Best moment: MS Dhoni’s run out against Bangladesh

If they were ever to be a lesson on how to lose a T20 international match, one should contact the Bangladesh cricket team. With two runs required in three balls, the Bangladeshi batsmen snatched defeat from the jaws of victory to give India a famous victory at the World T20 held in India in 2016.

Mushfiqur Rahim did superbly well to smash Hardik Pandya for two fours in the final over of the match to get the Tigers so close to victory, but could not take his team over the line despite needing only 2 of the last 3 balls. Along with the non-striker Mahmudullah, the two of them might have felt bad after looking at the Indian fans in the stadium, and thus threw their wicket away.

Hardik Pandya bowled the final delivery outside off stump and as Shuvagota Hom missed it, MS Dhoni, who had removed one of his gloves ran to the stumps with the ball in his hand to dismiss Mustafizur Rahman in dramatic fashion. Celebrations ensued despite the dismissal being referred to the third umpire, and once the batsman was confirmed out via the big screen, the 30000 or so fans at the M Chinnaswamy stadium brought the roof down with their celebrations.

Best debutant: Jasprit Bumrah

India’s Jasprit Bumrah surely yorked his way to this victory of the year’s best debutant. Unfortunately, none of the batsmen would be present to congratulate Bumrah for his win as they would be scared that Bumrah might break their toes.

Gone are the days when India had to worry about which bowler to use during the final few overs of the match. Along with Mohammad Shami, who is not present too often due to his injuries, the two of them have formed a deadly partnership towards the end of the innings.

2016 was a breakthrough year for him and he lies alone at the top of the wicket-takers list with 28 wickets in 21 matches at an average of 18.82. He played the most number of games in T20s this year, but his consistency never dipped.

Best short Film (innings) Chris Morris 82 off 32 in IPL

Unfortunately, Kohli could not receive this award as he opened the innings in the IPL and scored too many centuries, hence he could not be considered for an award related to a short inning.

However, it was South Africa’s Chris Morris who produced a blistering innings in the Delhi Daredevils’s IPL match against the Gujarat Lions, but unfortunately, his innings went in vain as DD lost one of the most thrilling games of the season. En-route his innings of 82, Morris also scored the third fastest fifty in the history of the IPL.

If there was anyone to pick to present this award, it would be Chris Gayle, who has mesmerised us with numerous short “films”.

Best dialogue: MS Dhoni at the World T20 with the Australian journalist

If you ever want to come in front of the camera and become famous, you just need to be a journalist and ask MS Dhoni a silly question during a post-match interview. Ask Samuel Ferris, the Australian journalist about it, and he would tell you everything.

The incident occurred after India’s exit at the world T20 semifinals against West Indies. After the retirement question got popped yet again from Ferris, Dhoni called him on the podium and made him sit beside him, putting his arm around his shoulders and stroking his beard in mock thoughtfulness.

Dhoni also said that he wished his victim had been an Indian reporter so that he could have asked him if he had a younger brother or son who was ready to take up the role of India wicketkeeper.