Ravichandran Ashwin Is ICC's Cricketer Of The Year

Ashwin was presented with the ‘ICC Test Cricketer of the Year’ award in what has been a rain of accolades for him.

- Rakesh Pandey

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who has made it a habbit of winning awards on the field with his performance, added another feather to his cap, when he was adjudged the ‘Cricketer of the Year’ at the ICC Awards.

Ashwin, who topped the bowling charts in the recently-concluded Test series against England with 28 wickets, was also presented with the ‘ICC Test Cricketer of the Year’ award in what has been a rain of accolades for the Tamil Nadu off-spinner. Ashwin is currently the No 1 Test bowler in the ICC Rankings, with Ravindra Jadeja rising to the second spot to make for an unusual instance of two Indian bowlers topping the Test bowling charts. Ashwin thus became the third Indian, after Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, to win the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for Cricketer of the Year.

The ICC Awards is a set of sports awards for cricket. The awards recognise and honour the best international cricket players of the previous 12 months. The Awards has been institutionalised by International Cricket Council since 2004.

Currently the top-ranked Test bowler, Ashwin had picked up 48 wickets and scored 336 runs in eight Tests during the ICC’s voting period from September 2015 to 2016, in addition to 27 wickets in 19 T20Is. In 2016 alone, he picked up 72 wickets in 12 Tests and became the second-fastest bowler to 200 wickets during the Kanpur match against New Zealand. After winning the award a delighted Ravichandran Ashwin said: “It’s an absolute pleasure to be awarded with this great honour. It feels great to follow the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid in being named as the ICC Cricketer of the Year. To also win the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year makes it even better.