Virat Kohli will receive the Polly Umrigar Trophy for two seasons. (Source: AP)
Virat Kohli has been awarded the Polly Umrigar Award for being the best cricketer of the year for two seasons, the BCCI announced on Thursday. The Indian cricket team captain has been awarded with the trophy after his phenomenal show in the past two seasons — 2016-17 and 2017-18. The BCCI Awards 2018 will be held in in Bangalore on Tuesday, June 12, 2018.
Apart from Kohli, BCCI will give away various awards for the two seasons including the best women’s international cricketer of the year. The board will also recognise the performance of domestic players in both men and women’s category.
Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana will receive there maiden award for best international cricketer for the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons respectively.
“I congratulate all the winners of the BCCI Annual Awards. The last two years have been fabulous for Indian Cricket with both the men and women’s teams doing very well. We are proud of their achievements and this is our small way of acknowledging their on-field efforts,” Vinod Rai, chairman of CoA, said.
For age-group cricket, BCCI has decided to add more new categories and they are dedicated to former BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya. The Jagmohan Dalmiya Trophy will be presented to the leading run-scorer and wicket-taker respectively in the U-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy and to the Best Junior and Senior Cricketer in women’s cricket.
The BCCI has also raised prize money for nine categories by Rs. 1 lakh and the revised prize money is Rs. 1.5 lakh.
“Every year we have champion players delivering champion performances. Awards help boost a player’s confidence and we only hope that we get more noteworthy performances in the season to follow,” Rahul Jhori, BCCI CEO, said.
The Cricket Association of Bengal has been adjudged the best State Association owing to their consistent performances in the BCCI domestic tournaments for the 2016-17 season while the Delhi and District Cricket Association gets the prize for the 2017-18 season.
“The BCCI Annual Awards is an occasion where former greats of the game, the present generation and the stars of tomorrow come under one roof. For BCCI, it is an opportunity to show its gratitude towards cricketers who enrich this game with their skills and hard work,” CK Khanna, BCCI’s acting president, said.
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