India Dominates The Cricket Oscars
It was a splendid night glittered with lights and of course, cricket stars from across the globe. Johannesburg hosted the ICC Awards for the second time and the ceremony was mostly centered on Indian players.
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After a blistering cricketing season, winning 6 one-day series in a row and not loosing a single test series since early 2008, the Indians with no doubt dominated the ICC Awards a.k.a. cricket Oscars. At the end, Indians came home with the Test player and the ODI player awards and 3 players each in the ICC Test XI as well as the ICC One-day XI.
Gambhir and Dhoni got the top honors for India with the Test player and ODI player of year awards respectively. Nevertheless, the Indian guys weren’t able to bag the top brass honor – The cricketer of year, which went to Mitchell Johnson for his all-round performance over the year for Australia. Dhoni during the voting period scored 967 runs @ 60.43 and scoring rate @ 86.63 from 100 balls in 24 games played. He too got 26 dismissals as a wicket-keeper with 18 catches and 8 stumpings. Moreover, Dhoni won the award for the second time in a row. Gambhir, on the other hand, 1269 runs in 12 matches @ 86.4 with 5 centuries and 4 half-centuries. The other top awards were the Twenty20 international performance of the year, bagged by Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan for his 96 runs fest off 57 balls on the eve of semi-final of the ICC T20 2009. Furthermore, Claire Taylor of England won the women cricketer of the year award. Eventually that was the only individual award that England got.
Aleem Dar, part of the ICC’s umpire elite panel, made sure that Simon Taufel dint won the Umpire of the year award for the sixth time in a row. He now becomes the second only umpire to have this honor. New Zealand won the spirit of cricket award, for display of excellent sportsmanship over the voting period. Peter Siddle of Australia won the emerging player of the year award. The Victorian speedster played 12 matches during the voting period and took 49 wickets. Ireland captain, William Porterfeild became the ICC associate player of the year.
The ICC test team and ODI teams too were announced. Indian captain, MS Dhoni, was the leader of the pact in both squads and the wicket-keeper as well. The test XII featured most Indians – 4. Six countries represented the team. The test team in the batting order:
- Gautam Gambhir (India)
- Andrew Strauss (Eng)
- AB de Villiers (South Africa)
- Sachin Tendulkar (India)
- Thilan Samaraweera (Sri Lanka)
- Michael Clarke (Australia)
- MS Dhoni (India – Captain, Wicket-keeper)
- Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh)
- Mitchell Johnson (Australia)
- Stuart Broad (England)
- Dale Steyn (South Africa)
Harbhajan Singh (XII Man)
On the other hand, the ODI XII featured most Sri Lankans – 4. Here again six-countries represented the XII. The ODI team in the batting order:
- Virender Sehwag (India)
- Chris Gayle (West Indies)
- Kevin Peitersen (England)
- Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka)
- Yuvraj Singh (India)
- Martin Guptill (New Zealand)
- MS Dhoni (India – Captain, Wicket-keeper)
- Andrew Flintoff
- Nuwan Kulasekara (Sri Lanka)
- Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka)
- Umer Gul (Pakistan)
Thilan Thushara (Sri Lanka)
The award winners were selected by a committee formed by the ICC. The committee was chaired by West Indies legend Clive Lloyd and included former India captain Anil Kumble, former England wicketkeeper Bob Taylor, former Pakistan opener Mudassar Nazar and former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming.
The players were awarded for their performances between the period of 13th August 2008 and 24th August 2009.
