Australian cricketers boycott ceremony
Debasis Sen, Bengaluru: The entire Australian team boycotted the BCCI Annual Awards ceremony here in Bengaluru. The Australian cricketers, who were staying at the same hotel with the Indian team decided to skip the function, as tensions flared between the two boards following Kohli’s jibe at Steve Smith yesterday. However Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland was present on the occasion.
The Indian captain and spin ace Ravichandran Ashwin were tonight honoured for their phenomenal run of form through the season in the BCCI Awards Night 2017 here. Kohli won the Polly Umrigar award for best international player of 2015/16, becoming the first player to get the award three times.
Much like his skipper, Ashwin too has been on a record-breaking spree in the ongoing season, winning the CK Nayudu award for his performance in the West Indies in 2016.
He picked up 17 wickets in four Tests, including a haul of 7/83 in North Sound.
On receiving the award, Kohli said, “It’s been quite unbelievable the last 10 to 12 months. I am not bothered who thinks what. This is the attitude in dressing room. We learn to win together and lose together. I wanted to be the best in all formats. I saw it as an opportunity and I decided to follow a path and the whole team believed it.”
Former India wicketkeeper Farookh Engineer, who delivered the MAK Pataudi lecture, had nothing but only praise for the legendary captain.
Engineer urged everyone to know and respect the contributions made by Pataudi to Indian cricket, saying that the Tiger was “still a world-class player despite losing one eye”.
The awards night was being held a day after India’s win series-levelling win over Australia in the second Test of the ongoing four-match series.
A galaxy of stars from yesteryears convened at the Garden City to add glamour to the function. Former captains Bishen Singh Bedi, Md. Azharuddin, Ravi Shastri, Anil Kumble and Ajit Wadekar were present on the ocassion. Former cricketers from the city Gundappa Vishwanath, Venkatesh Prasad, Javagal Srinath, Sunil Joshi were also present.
There were some moments which were priceless. Ravichandran Ashwin was seen chatting with greats like Bishen Singh Bedi and Erapalli Prasanna. Three generations of women cricketers – Jhulan Goswami, Diana Eduljee and Santa Rangaswamy posed together for a photograph. Mrs Rangaswamy (in the middle) became the first recipient of Lifetime Awards for Women cricketers.
Here is the full list of awardees:
| AWARD | WINNER |
| Col. C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award | Rajinder Goel Padmakar Shivalkar |
| Lifetime Achievement Award For Women | Shantha Rangaswamy |
| BCCI Special Award | V.V Kumar Late Ramakant Desai |
| Polly Umrigar Award | Virat Kohli |
| Dilip Sardesai Award (Best Performance in a bilateral series) | R. Ashwin (tour of WI 2016) |
| Lala Amarnath Award For Best All-Rounder In Ranji Trophy | Jalaj Saxena |
| Lala Amarnath Award For Best All-Rounder In Domestic Limited-Overs Competitions | Axar Patel |
| Madhavrao Scindia Award – Highest Scorer In Ranji Trophy | Shreyas Iyer |
| Madhavrao Scindia Award – Highest Wicket-Taker In Ranji Trophy | Shahbaz Nadeem |
| M.A. Chidambaram Trophy – Highest Scorer In (U23) Col. C K Nayudu Trophy | Jay Bista |
| M.A. Chidambaram Trophy – Highest Wicket-Taker In (U23) Col. C K Nayudu Trophy | Satyajeet Bachhav |
| NKP Salve Award – Highest Scorer In (U19) Cooch Behar Trophy | Arman Jaffer |
| NKP Salve Award – Highest Wicket-Taker In (U19) Cooch Behar Trophy | Ninad Rathva |
| Raj Singh Dungarpur Award – Highest Scorer In (U16) Vijay Merchant Trophy | Abhishek Sharma |
| Raj Singh Dungarpur Award- Highest Wicket-Taker In (U16) Vijay Merchant Trophy | Abhishek Sharma |
| Jagmohan Dalmiya Award – Best Woman Cricketer (Sr) | Mithali Raj |
| Jagmohan Dalmiya Award – Best Woman Cricketer (Jr) | Deepti Sharma |
| Best Umpire In Domestic Cricket | Nitin Menon |
| Best Performance In Domestic Tournaments | Mumbai Cricket Association |