Continuing his impressive award-winning spree, India’s spin spearhead Ravichandran Ashwin bagged the award for the Best Player in TeamSports award at the inaugural edition of the India Sports Honours organised by Virat Kohli Foundation. The off-spinner pipped the likes of kabaddi player Pardeep Narwal, Indian national football team captain Sunil Chhetri and Indian hockey star Rupinder Pal Singh, as well as fellow teammates Cheteshwar Pujara and Hardik Pandya to bag the prestigious award.
Another one for the trophy cabinet @ashwinravi99 @prithinarayanan Congrats and all the best for the coming season! Catch the interview on Nov26 @StarSportsIndia @hotstartweets #IndianSportsHonors pic.twitter.com/w2FfIlls3j
— Mayanti Langer Binny (@MayantiLanger_B) November 12, 2017
The award ceremony was jointly launched by Indian skipper Virat Kohli’s foundation and business tycoon Sanjeev Goenka. Badminton legend Pullela Gopichand headed the jury for the inaugural edition. Interestingly, Kohli had ruled himself out of contention from the awards for obvious reasons.
The latest award, meanwhile, extended Ashwin’s trophy list. The Tamil Nadu ace had ended the last year by winning the ICC Cricketer of the Year and ICC Test Cricketer of the Year 2016. In the process, he became only the second Indian after the legendary Rahul Dravid to win the ICC Cricketer of the Year and ICC Test Cricketer of the Year in the same year. He also became only the third Indian cricketer after Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar to win Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year.
Earlier this year, he became the first player to receive the Dilip Sardesai award twice after bagging it for his performance in the West Indies last year. He picked up 17 wickets in four Tests apart from scoring two hundreds.
Meanwhile, India’s women team’s skipper Mithali Raj won the Best Sportswoman in TeamSport award and also collected the award for Team of the Year on her side’s behalf. Mithali Raj & Co. had made it to the final of this year’s World Cup in England with the skipper leading from the front.
Video of the day:
