Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Sri Lankan dashing opener Tillakaratne Dilshan have been nominated in three out of the possible four categories at the Oscars of cricket; the sixth ICC awards.
The various nominations for the men’s cricketers are Cricketer of the Year, Test Player of the Year, ODI Player of the Year and T20I Player of the Year. Amongst the other categories, there is Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year, Emerging Player of the Year, Women’s Cricketer of the Year and Umpire of the Year.
Dhoni has been nominated in all the categories except the T20I Player of the Year, whereas Dilshan misses out on the Test Player of the Year.
Apart from these two cricketers, there are 16 other players, who have been nominated in two categories. Dhoni aside, Arjuna Award winner, Gautam Gambhir has also been nominated for the Cricketer of the Year and Test Player of the Year award, as has Harbhajan Singh. VVS Laxman makes it to the test players’ list, whereas Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh are a part of the ODI players.
The only Indian cricketer to make it to the T20I Player of the Year list is Zaheer Khan. Zaheer is currently recuperating from a shoulder injury that will see him out of the Champions Trophy.
In the Emerging Players’ category, Amit Mishra makes it to the list along with the likes of Phil Hughes, Ben Hilfenhaus and Jesse Ryder.
Amongst the women cricketers, Priyanka Roy and prolific run-getter Mithali Raj make it to the list, with Raj standing a good chance of winning the award as well.
There is no Indian umpire in the Umpire of the Year list, where Simon Taufel makes a record sixth successive appearance. He has already won the award on all the previous occasions, and looks set to gain it for the sixth time as well.
Of the 14 names in the Associate and Affiliate Players of the Year, Ireland is represented by seven players.
