Virender Sehwag won Test cricket batting prize for second year running in ESPNcricinfo Awards. His audacious 293 against Sri Lanka in Mumbai was chosen over Andrew Strauss's 161 at Lord's in the Ashes and Chris Gayle's unbeaten 165 in Adelaide, by a jury of former cricketers, commentators and Cricinfo's senior editors. The six awards, for performances in three international cricket formats in 2009, were shared between players from India, Pakistan & West Indies.
Gayle won Twenty20 batting award for his 50-ball 88 against Australia at The Oval in World Twenty20. His team-mate Jerome Taylor's rout of England in Jamaica was voted Test bowling performance of the year. ODI batting award went to Sachin Tendulkar for his fighting 175 in a match India lost by three runs to Australia. Shahid Afridi, who was nominated for his Twenty20 bowling as well, won for his career-best 6 for 38 in Dubai, also against Australia.
Award for Twenty20 bowling went to Umar Gul, who was nominated twice in the category, for his five-wicket haul against New Zealand at The Oval, also in World Twenty20 - a performance of reverse-swing bowling in which, according to former Australia captain and jury member Ian Chappell, "for three overs he looked like he was going to take a wicket every ball and damn near did". Of winners, Gul, Gayle and Afridi were among eight players to receive two nominations each. Fifty-seven performances from 2009 were shortlisted in six categories early in January and voted on by the jury.
ESPNcricinfo Awards also comprise Statsguru Awards, based on statistical analyses of year's performances. Indian players won top batting awards. Gautam Gambhir was adjudged Batsman of Year, based on a score arrived at by adding Test batting average to ODI batting index (batting average multiplied by strike rate). He was also Test Batsman of Year. Sehwag was voted ODI Batsman of Year. Bowling awards went to Stuart Broad (Bowler of Year), Mitchell Johnson (Test Bowler) & James Anderson (ODI Bowler). Other winners are Shane Watson (Most Consistent Test Batsman), Tillakaratne Dilshan (Most Runs in Test Wins), Brendon McCullum & Jesse Ryder (ODI Opening Batting Pair of Year).
Comments
Comments are closed.