Kohli receives Polly Umrigar Award

Indian skipper Virat Kohli was bestowed with the Polly Umrigar Award on Tuesday for his outstanding performance in two consecutive seasons 2016-17 and 2017-18 respectively. Polly Umrigar Award is BCCI’s Award for ‘Cricketer of the Year’.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli was bestowed with the Polly Umrigar Award on Tuesday for his outstanding performance in two consecutive seasons 2016-17 and 2017-18 respectively. Polly Umrigar Award is BCCI’s Award for ‘Cricketer of the Year’.

Kohli was outstanding in 2016-17 as he finished the season with 1332 runs in 13 test matches with an average of 74. In the limited overs format, he went on to score 1516 runs in 27 games with an average of 84.22. His records only went on to improve in test format in the next season as he scored 896 at an average of 89.6. In a ODIs, he maintained a decent average of 75.

India Women skipper Harmanpreet Kaur was also honored with the Player of the Year award for the year 2016-17 while India Women opener Smriti Mandhana was honored with same for the year 2017-18.

The BCCI did not fail to honour the Domestic cricketers as well. Parvez Rasool and Jalaj Saxena were conferred with the award for ’Best All-rounder’ in Ranji Trophy. Mumbai Indians’ star Krunal Pandya was also honored with for his performance in the Hazare One-Day Championship.

Former English skipper Kevin Pieterson graced the ceremony with his presence and delivered the keynote address for the MAK Pataudi Memorial lecture. He talked about the importance of making day-night test cricket more ‘entertaining’ so that it gets more viewership. He emphasized that it was necessary to save the traditional format of the game. With this address, he became the first foreign cricketer to deliver the address.