Mumbai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will honor former Indian all-rounder and head coach Ravi Shastri with the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ for his outstanding contribution to Indian cricket as a player and a coach. The award ceremony will take place in Hyderabad on Tuesday, where opening batsman Shubman Gill will also receive the ‘Cricketer of the Year Award’ for his brilliant performance in the last 12 months.
Shubman Gill, who made his Test debut in Australia in December 2020, has impressed everyone with his talent and temperament. He has scored 728 runs in 11 Tests at an average of 42.82, including four half-centuries and a century. He also became the fastest Indian batsman to reach 2000 runs in ODIs, achieving the feat in just 40 innings. He has scored 2126 runs in 42 ODIs at an average of 56.00, with five centuries and 13 fifties. He is currently the second-highest run-scorer in the ongoing IPL 2024, with 543 runs in 14 matches for Gujarat Titans.
Ravi Shastri, who turned 61 on Monday, has had a distinguished career as a cricketer and a coach. He played 80 Tests and 150 ODIs for India, scoring 3830 and 3108 runs respectively. He also took 151 and 129 wickets in the two formats. He was part of the Indian team that won the 1983 World Cup and the 1985 World Championship of Cricket. After retiring from international cricket in 1992, he became a popular commentator and analyst.
Shastri served as the head coach of the Indian team twice, first as a team director from 2014 to 2016 and then as a full-time coach from 2017 to 2021. He worked closely with captain Virat Kohli and helped India achieve several historic feats, such as winning two consecutive Test series in Australia, reaching the final of the inaugural World Test Championship, and winning Test series in England and South Africa. However, he also faced criticism for India’s failure to win any ICC trophy under his tenure. India lost to New Zealand in the final of the World Test Championship in 2021 and was knocked out in the semi-finals of the ODI World Cup in 2019 and the T20 World Cup in 2020.
The BCCI awards, which are given annually to recognize the best performers in Indian cricket, are being held for the first time since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The awards ceremony will be attended by players from both India and England teams, who are gearing up for the first Test of the four-match series starting in Hyderabad on Thursday. The awards will be presented by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah.
