The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Yusuf Pathan is ‘India cricketer of the year’

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Yusuf Pathan is ‘India cricketer of the year’

Principal Correspondent

— Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

Yusuf Pathan.

Bangalore: The cricketers who have been toiling in the domestic circuit got some well-deserved recognition at the Ceat domestic cricket awards function here on Monday.

Baroda’s Yusuf Pathan won the ‘Ceat India Cricketer of the Year’ award with 50 points, pipping Aakash Chopra (41), Praveen Kumar (40), R. Vinay Kumar (40) and Rajat Bhatia (39). Besides the trophy, Yusuf also won a cash prize of Rs. two lakh.

Aakash Karnataka seamer Vinay, however, did not return home empty-handed. Aakash bagged the ‘Ceat Domestic Batsman of the Year’ award while Vinay was the ‘Bowler of the Year’. Both of them got a cash prize of Rs. one lakh each.

Cheteshwar Pujara of Saurashtra was declared the ‘Most Promising Youngster’ while Himachal Pradesh’s Rishi Dhawan won the ‘India under-19 cricketer’ award.

Kaypee honoured

Former Haryana batsman Amarjeet Kaypee was honoured with the ‘Ceat India Lifetime Achievement’ award. In a first-class career that spanned two decades (1980 to 2000), Kaypee scored 7,894 runs from 117 games. Kaypee, along with Pujara and Rishi, got a cash prize of Rs. one lakh.

The Indian team that won the under-19 World Cup in Malaysia was also felicitated during the function. Also present on the occasion were Syed Kirmani, Ashok Mankad, Arun Lal, Sunil Joshi and Sadanand Viswanath. The guest of honour, batting legend G.R. Viswanath, lauded the winners.

In a statement, Sunil Gavaskar, the adjudicator for the Ceat ratings, said: “The ratings are pretty much accurate as some of the recent entrants in the Indian team like Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary and Ranadeb Bose have been winners of the Ceat domestic awards.”

Ceat Limited’s vice-president, Arnab Banerjee, reiterated his company’s support to domestic cricket.

The Ceat award winners:

India Cricketer of the Year: Yusuf Pathan; Domestic Batsman of the Year: Aakash Chopra; Domestic Bowler of the Year: R. Vinay Kumar; Promising Youngster: Cheteshwar Pujara; Lifetime Achievement: Amarjeet Kaypee; India under-19 cricketer: Rishi Dhawan.