India’s main cricket organization, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), held its yearly awards on Tuesday (January 23) in Hyderabad, after a break of four years.
Notably, key players from both the men’s and women’s Indian cricket teams were there. The supporting crew also attended. England’s head coach, Brendon McCullum, currently in Hyderabad for the forthcoming Test series, was also present.
In the women’s game, Smriti Mandhana emerged as the Best International Cricketer for two seasons, 2020-21 and 2021-22. Similarly, her fellow player Deepti Sharma bagged the same title for the 2019-20 and 2022-23 periods.
Mohammed Shami snagged the Polly Umirgar Award for Best International Cricketer in 2019-20 in Men’s cricket. Then, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, and Shubman Gill hit the mark, bagging the trophy for 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23 seasons in that order.
In addition to these headliners, a slew of both international and domestic cricketers walked away with diverse accolades for their skills. Figures like Rahul Dravid, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul handed out the awards to up-and-coming players at the BCCI gala.
The BCCI event was a hit with fans. Praises, reactions, and sure, heaps of humorous memes erupted across social media channels. One supporter wrote:
“Bollywood actors are lucky, because Rohit chose to play cricket”
Here are some of the better ones:
Ravi Shastri cherishes consecutive Australia series wins as career highlight after BCCI Lifetime Achievement Award
Ravi Shastri, a former Indian cricketer, got the CK Nayudu Award for lifetime accomplishment at the BCCI Awards Ceremony.
Aside from an outstanding playing career for India from 1981 to 1992, he was also successful as a head coach, winning two memorable Test series in Australia. After winning the award, Ravi Shastri spoke with Jio Cinema about a few unforgettable events, saying:
“It is a special evening for me. I think picking one would be difficult. But I will just go very quickly. You showed one that the 1985 final vs Pakistan was special in Melbourne. 1983 when India when the World Cup. But in commentary, 2007 when they won the T20 World Cup and 2011 when MS hit that ball for six. Two back-to-back wins in Australia. But the icing on the cake was the last day at the Gabba when Rishabh Pant took us past the finishing line.”
Ravi Shastri
On a lighter side, Shastri also mentioned Ravichandran Ashwin, saying:
“Ashwin just mentioned, I am going to get up do better. Now that he has had this haircut and his brain is free, with the air going through, now can you imagine what all he is thinking? There could be a ‘Theesra’, there could be a ‘Choutha’. England will find out very soon, in the next couple of months.”
Ravi Shastri