Sachin, Dhoni, Sehwag Nominated for ICC Awards 2010 :
India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, senior batsman Sachin Tendulkar and opener Virender Sehwag are among the eight cricketers who have been nominated for the October 6 LG ICC Awards 2010.
Nine players from four teams have each been nominated in three different categories for the award which is scheduled to be held in Bangaluru later this year.
Besides the Indian players, Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis from South Africa, Shane Watson and Doug Bollinger from Australia and Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardena feature prominently in the long-lists for the awards.
In addition, there are nine players who are nominated in two distinct categories.
“The LG ICC Awards are an opportunity for the ICC and FICA to acknowledge and celebrate the remarkable performances of the world’s top players,” said ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat.
“It is also a chance for followers of our great sport to reflect on some of the great cricketing feats they have witnessed over the past year. This will be the seventh time the awards have been handed out and picking the winners will not be an easy task for the voting academy,” he said.
The seventh annual LG ICC Awards, presented in association with the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA), includes nine individual prizes and also features the selection of the Test and ODI Teams of the Year.
Also there will be an award for the side that has adhered most to the Spirit of Cricket.
For the first time, this year’s awards feature a new category, the People’s Choice Award, which will be chosen by cricket fans around the world who will get a chance to vote for their favourite player online from a short-list of five cricketers selected by the ICC selection panel.
The long-lists of nominations were made by a five-man ICC selection panel chaired by former West Indies captain and current chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee Clive Lloyd.
The panel also includes former international players Angus Fraser of England, Matthew Hayden of Australia, Ravi Shastri of India and Zimbabwe’s Duncan Fletcher.
The LG ICC Awards ceremony is now in its seventh year and this year it will be held in Bengaluru, India. Previous ceremonies were held in London (2004), Sydney (2005), Mumbai (2006), Johannesburg (2007 and 2009), Dubai (2008).
Sachin Tendulkar said My Dream has Come True on 3rd September 2010 :
Sachin Tendulkar conferred honorary rank of group captain by the IAF
For his glorious contribution to the gentleman’s game, cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar was conferred the honorary rank of group captain by Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal P. V. Naik at a function here on Friday.
“It has indeed been a dream come true to get honoured by the IAF [Indian Air Force] and be a part of the great air warrior family. From the most crucial challenge of defending the nation from any external aggression to providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief at times of crisis, the Air Force has always played its role with competence,” said Mr. Tendulkar.
Admitting his fondness for fighter planes, the cricketer recalled how in 1996 he got an opportunity to fly a fighter plane in South Africa. “It was a frightening experience. I was told to eject out of the aircraft if something went wrong, it would only lead to a broken elbow.”
Referring to the alleged involvement of three Pakistani cricketers in spot fixing in England, Mr. Tendulkar later told the journalists that integrity was extremely important in sports.
Earlier Air Chief Marshal Naik said that during his entire cricketing career, Mr. Tendulkar had not been involved in any controversy. “Like the IAF, he has single minded devotion to duty, dedication and perseverance and courage under adversity.”
The proposal to confer the master blaster with the honorary rank was approved by the President on May 20. The IAF has, till date, conferred honorary rank on 17 personalities, including industrialist J.R.D. Tata and Maharaja of Jamnagar S.D. Jadeja.
Sachin Tendulkar wins Cricketer of the Year award 2011 :
The first ICC award, the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy, by being named the Cricketer of the Year during the 2010 ICC Award ceremony in Bangalore. Tendulkar, however, lost out in the other major categories he was nominated in, with Virender Sehwag winning the Test Cricketer of the Year award and AB de Villiers claiming the ODI prize.
“This last season has been really special for the entire team,” Tendulkar, who also received the People’s Choice Award, said. “I think right from the start of the season, when we won in Sri Lanka and I scored a hundred in the finals, and from there on the season took off for us. We became No. 1 in the Test rankings, something we all wanted to achieve, and we’ve been able to maintain our performances in the last ten months.”
Tendulkar said Gary Kirsten, the India coach, had played an important role in the success of all the batsmen. “He has been instrumental in making all the batters play plenty of deliveries in practice sessions, he himself throws thousands of deliveries,” Tendulkar said. “Gary has been able to keep us in the right frame of mind, whatever areas we needed to work on, he is making sure we are addressing that.”
Tendulkar fought off competition from Sehwag, Hashim Amla and Graeme Swann, the other nominees in the Cricketer of the Year category. Previous winners of the Cricketer of the Year award include Rahul Dravid, Andrew Flintoff, Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Mitchell Johnson.