Johannesburg:
Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, was named One day International
(ODI) Player of the Year for the second time in a row here late on Thursday evening.
Dhoni also features in both Tests and One-day International Cricket Council (ICC)
World Teams of the Year as wicketkeeper and captain. Indian cricketers dominated
the ICC awards night in Johannesburg and have a strong presence in both the Test
and ODI Teams of the Year. Opening batsman Gautam Gambhir won the best Test Player
of Year award, and also features in the World Test Team of the Year. Interestingly,
Gambhir won the award beating Australian bowler Mitchell Johnson, England skipper
Andrew Strauss and Sri Lankan Thilan Samaraweera. During the season Gambhir scored
1,269 runs at an impressive average of 84.60 in eight Test matches. He scored
five centuries and four half-centuries during the period. Besides Dhoni and Gambhir,
Sachin Tendulkar also featured in the world Test Team of the Year. Spinner Harbhajan
Singh was named twelvth man of the squad. The World ODI Team of the Year has three
Indians in Dhoni, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh. Australian fast bowler Johnson
bagged the most coveted Cricketer of Year Award for the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy,
in a stiff four-way race with Dhoni, Gambhir and England captain Andrew Strauss.
During period between August 13, 2008 to August 24, 2009, the 27-year-old Johnson
played 17 Test matches, taking 80 wickets, with 11-159 against South Africa in
Perth in December being his best performance of the season. In the ODI section
Johnson played 16 matches taking 28 wickets at an average of 24.25 and a best
haul of 4-34 against South Africa in April. Earlier, Rahul Dravid (2004), Andrew
Flintoff of England and South Africa's Jacques Kallis (joint winners in 2005),
Ricky Ponting of Australia (2006 and 2007) and West Indies Shivnarine Chanderpaul
(2008) were given these top awards.
