CEAT Cricket Awards - A look at the archives

Cricket legends Kapil Dev and Wasim Akram

The concept of CEAT cricket awards originated in 1995 when CEAT and PMG merged with an aim to develop a system which would acknowledge and duly honor the excellent performances of the cricketers whose heroics remained officially unappreciated before that time. Three iconic minds collaborated as Sunil Gavaskar, Clive Lloyd and Ian Chappell incepted the idea of the rating systems and put it into effect in 1995.

The CEAT International Cricketer of the Year award was introduced in 1996 and Brian Lara became the first winner of the inaugural award. Venkatesh Prasad bagged the 1997 award as he became the first Indian to claim the prize. Since then, many notable names have gone on to win the award including two time winners Ricky Pointing, Muttiah Muralitharan and Jacques Kallis. Virat Kohli was crowned as the International Cricketer of the Year in 2012.

In 1997, a new laurel was introduced in the second edition by CEAT as CCR International Team of the Year came into effect. With 92 points, Pakistan were crowned as the best team as they won the first ever team award. Over the span of almost two decades, Australia have claimed most of the awards as they have won 10 Team of the Year honors putting them far ahead than any other team.

2001 saw the introduction of quite a few new awards as the various aspects of the game was now separately rewarded. Sunil Gavaskar was the first recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award while other new awards such as International Umpire of the Year, Best Coach, International Batsman of the Year, International Bowler of the Year and International Fielder of the Year came into effect.

CEAT Cricket Rating added a special Retro award category in the 2009 edition to celebrate the performances of players who excelled at the World Cup since 1975. Kapil Dev (1983), Rahul Dravid (1999) and Sourav Ganguly (2003) were all recognized for their efforts as India dominated the awards ahead of the Australians.

A special India-Pakistan award segment was reserved in the year 2011-12 as CEAT honored the return of Pakistan team to India after several years. Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev won the Best Batsman and Best Bowler in Test cricket respectively while Wasim Akram and Inzamam-ul-haq won the ODI section.

There also have been special awards given out to cricketers for their unique feats. Virender Sehwag was recognized with the accolade of completing 10 years in international cricket while VVS Laxman was given the Special Award for contribution to Indian cricket. The Youngster of the Year award was first introduced in 2010 and Virat Kohli became the maiden winner. T20 ratings system was first applied in 2007 and Suresh Raina won the International T20 player of the Year in 2011.

You can check all the winners here