CEAT Cricket Awards: Virat Kohli named Cricketer of the Year

Virat Kohli

India’s star batsman Virat Kohli was adjudged as the International Cricketer of the Year at the CEAT Cricket Awards, held in Mumbai on Monday.

The 25-year-old has been in sublime form over the last year and in the period, equalled Sir Vivan Richards as the fastest batsmen to reach 5000 runs in ODIs. He also scored Test centuries in South Africa and New Zealand, despite India not winning any game in their tours to the two countries.

Fomer India great and Chief adjudicator of the Ceat Cricket rating, Sunil Gavaskar was full of praise for the youngster. “It’s good to see an Indian win the main award again and that he has won it for the second time at such a young age should inspire other youngsters also to win the coveted award,” he said.

Ravichandran Ashwin won the Indian Cricketer of the Year award for becoming the fastest Indian to pick 100 Test wickets, while his nemesis over the past year Australian Glenn Maxwell took home the award for being the most popular cricketer amongst fans. Shikhar Dhawan, who announced himself on the ODI scene last June with a brilliant performance at the Champions Trophy, was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year.

Robin Uthappa who has had a great year, winning the Ranji Trophy, Irani Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy with Karnataka, and then the IPL with the Kolkata Knight Riders was unsurprisingly awarded the Indian Domestic Cricketer of the Year gag. He was the top scorer in the IPL and the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Mitchell Johnson won the Test Cricketer of the Year award, after his scintillating performances in Australia’s Ashes whitewash over England five months ago. Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al-Hasan grabbed the T20 Player of the Year award.

India might not have tasted success at the ICC U19 World Cup earlier this year, but the captain of the side Vijay Zol, who was one of the instrumental performers for Maharashtra in the Ranji Trophy, won the Young Indian Cricketer of the Year award.

Syed Kirmani, an integral part of the 1983 World Cup winning Indian team, was honoured for his contributions to cricket with the Lifetime Achievement Award.