Kohli and Harmanpreet named Player of the Year
NEWDELHI: Virat Kohli, the Indian cricket captain, will receive the Polly Umrigar award for his outstanding achievements in the last couple of years at the BCCI Awards function which will be held in Bangalore on June 12.
In addition to Kohli, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana, who shone for India in the 2017 Women’s World Cup, are set to be maiden recipients of the award for best international cricketer (women) for the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons respectively.
The BCCI press release stated that in addition to the awards for Kohli, Mandhana and Kaur, the Indian cricket Board has rechristened four awards in remembrance of the Late Jagmohan Dalmiya.
The Jagmohan Dalmiya Trophy will be presented to the leading run-scorer and wicket-taker respectively in the U-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy and to the Best Junior and Senior Cricketer in women’s cricket.
The Indian cricket team skipper has been in phenomenal form across all formats in 2016 and 2017. In the 2016 season, he smashed 1215 runs at an average of over 75 in Tests, 739 runs in ODIs at an average of 92 and showed remarkable consistency in T20 cricket, averaging 106.
His great form continued even in 2017 as he went past 1000 runs yet again in Tests but he had a fabulous ODI season, scoring 1460 runs with an average of over 76. During the 2017 season, he went past 9000 ODI runs, making him the quickest.
In the 2017 World Cup, the Indian women’s cricket team entered the final where they lost to England by nine runs at Lord’s. However, their great run was primarily due to the exploits of Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana.
While Mandhana started the 2017 World Cup with scores of 90 and 106* against champions England and West Indies respectively, Kaur stole the show with a blazing 171* in the semi-final against six-time champions Australia.
The knock was the thirdhighest in the history of women’s World Cup and was the fifth highest overall.
Both Mandhana and Kaur are also the first Indian players to feature in the Women’s Big Bash League, with both playing for Brisbane Heat and Sydney Thunder respectively.