Indian captain named ODI Player of the Year
INDIAN captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been named One-Day Player of the Year.
The wicketkeeper was honoured at a glittering ICC Awards ceremony in Dubai and becomes the first Indian player to take the honour.
He beat team-mate Sachin Tendulkar Australia’s Nathan Bracken and Pakistan’s Mohammad Yousuf to take the award.
Dhoni has impressed both with bat and glove over the past year.
During the voting period, Dhoni played 39 ODI’s and scored 1,298 runs, while as wicketkeeper he claimed 62 dismissals.
“I would like to thank the voting academy for considering me to be deserving of this award. I am really happy to get this – it’s a great privilege”, Dhoni said.
“Also, it feels great to know that I am the first Indian player to get this particular award and it’s very special because now I am in the company of a lot of other good cricketers. Some fantastic players have won this award in the past and to be mentioned in their company is truly a humbling experience for me.
“I would like to thank the ICC, my home cricket board, my family, my team-mates and friends.”
Other winners on the night included Dhoni’s team-mate Yuvraj Singh who won the inaugural winner of the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year Award in recognition of his amazing six sixes in one over off Stuart Broad during the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa last September, and Ajantha Mendis, Sri Lanka’s 23-year-old spin star, who won the Emerging Player of the Year award.
