Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri received the Lifetime Achievement Award on Tuesday at the 2024 Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) awards, adding yet another significant piece of hardware to his collection. Farokh Engineer, a former Indian batsman and wicketkeeper, was also given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the recently held function in Hyderabad.
Shubman Gill, the opening batsman for India, finished an incredible season by winning the men’s category title of Best International Cricketer. After Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, and Sachin Tendulkar, young Gill became the fourth Indian batsman to lead the ICC batting rankings for the 50-over format. In the ICC rankings, Gill displaced Babar Azam of Pakistan as the number one player.
For the first time since 2019, the BCCI awards were presented. Superstar Gill won the Polly Umrigar Award for 2022–23, but Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah received special recognition for his actions throughout the 2021–2022 campaign. The speedster Bumrah has been selected as the deputy to Rohit Sharma for the forthcoming Test series between England and India. For the 2021–21 and 2019–2020 seasons, Bumrah’s teammates Mohammed Shami and Ravichandran Ashwin were named the Polly Umrigar Award winners.
Shastri’s acceptance speech
“It certainly is (an emotional moment). Ladies and gentlemen, thanks for coming and I thank the BCCI for bestowing this honour on me. It’s four decades in the game, you have not missed a beat and you have been involved with Indian cricket right through. It is a very touching moment for me because when I started my cricket at the age of 17 and I finished at 31 as a player, 30 in fact, BCCI was my guardian right through,” Shastri said during acceptance of the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award.
Complete list of winners
Designated awards: Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award: Ravi Shastri, Farokh Engineer (2019-20).
Polly Umrigar Award for Best Men’s Cricketer of the Year: Shubman Gill (2022-23), Jasprit Bumrah (2021-22), Ravichandran Ashwin (2020-21), Mohammed Shami (2019-20).
Best International Cricketer, Women: Deepti Sharma (2019-20, 2022-23), Smriti Mandhana (2020-21, 2021-22).
Best International Debut, Men: Mayank Agarwal (2019-20), Axar Patel (2020-21), Shreyas Iyer (2021-22), Yashasvi Jaiswal (2022-23).
Best International Debut, Women: Priya Punia (2019-20), Shafali Varma (2020-21), S Meghna (2021-22), Amanjot Kaur (2022-23).
Dilip Sardesai Award (2022-23): Highest Runs: Yashasvi Jaiswal; Highest Wickets: R Ashwin.
Most Runs in ODIs – Women: Punam Raut (2019-20), Mithali Raj (2020-21), Harmanpreet Kaur (2021-22), Jemimah Rodrigues (2022-23).
Most Wickets in ODIs – Women: Poonam Yadav (2019-20), Jhulan Goswami (2020-21), Rajehwari Gayakwad (2021-22), Devika Vaidya (2022-23).
Best Umpire in Domestic Cricket: KN Ananthapadmanabhan (2019-20), Vrinda Rathi (2020-21), J Madangopal (2021-22), Rohan Pandit (2022-23).
Best performance in domestic tournaments: Mumbai (2019-20).
Lala Amarnath Award: Best all-rounder in domestic limited-over competitions: Baba Aparajith (2019-20), Rishi Dhawan (2020-21, 2021-22), Riyan Parag (2022-23).
Lala Amarnath Award: Best all-rounder in Ranji Trophy: Manishankar Mura Singh (2019-20), Shams Mulani (2021-22), Saransh Jain (2022-23).
Madhavrao Scindia Trophy: Highest run-getter in Ranji Trophy: Rahul Dalal (2019-20), Sarfaraz Khan (2021-22), Mayank Agarwal (2022-23).
Madhavrao Scindia Trophy: Highest wicket-taker in Ranji Trophy: Jaydev Unadkat (2019-20), Shams Mulani (2021-22), Jalaj Saxena (2022-23).
MA Chidambaram Trophy: Highest wicket-taker in U19 Cooch Behar Trophy: Harsh Dubey (2019-20), AR Nishad (2021-22), Manav Chothani (2022-23).
MA Chidambaram Trophy: Highest run-getter in U19 Cooch Behar Trophy: P. Kanpillewar (2019-20), Mayank Shandilya (2021-22), Danish Malewar (2022-23).
MA Chidambaram Trophy: Highest wicket-taker in U23 Col Cok Nayudu Trophy: Ankush Tyagi (2019-20), Harsh Dubey (2021-22), Vishal Jayswal (2022-23).
MA Chidambaram Trophy: Highest run-getter in U23 Col Cok Nayudu Trophy: Parth Palawat (2019-20), YV Rathod (2021-22), Kshitij Patel (2022-23).
