Tendulkar adjudged the best; Uthappa most stylish

BCCI top brass avoids IPL Awards ceremony

Tournament’s most prolific batsman, Tendulkar, who turns 37 on Saturday, has 570 runs in his kitty from 14 matches with five fifties.

He beat competitions from Royal Challengers’ batsmen Jacques Kallis (553 runs from 15) and Robin Uthappa (374 from 15) and Chennai Super King’s Suresh Raina (463 from 15) and Murali Vijay (432 from 14) for the Jury Award for best batsman.

Tendulkar, who is uncertain to lead Mumbai Indians in Sunday’s IPL final against Chennai Super Kings after splitting his right hand webbing during the first semifinal on April 21, was also named Best Batsman and Best Captain in the Viewers’ Choice category.

Left-arm spinner Ojha is the most successful bowler of IPL III with 21 wickets in his kitty from 15 matches.

Delhi Daredevils’ AB de Villiers was declared Best Fielder while West Indian Kieron Pollard was named for Best Debut Performance for his superb all-round performance with the bat and ball.

Among other Jury Awards, Kallis, who also have 11 wickets from 15 matches, was named for the Most Consistent Performance Award. The jury consisted of Lalit Modi (chairman), Sunil Gavaskar, Brian Lara, Javagal Srinath, Simon Taufel and Harsha Bhogle.
The Awards Night was boycotted by the top brass of the BCCI.

BCCI President Shashank Manohar, Secretary N Srinivasan, and IPL vice-chairman Niranjan Shah stayed away from the event while team owners Vijay Mallya (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Preity Zinta (Kings XI Punjab), Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra (Rajasthan Royals), Gayatri Reddy (Deccan Chargers) and Jay Mehta (Kolkata Knight Riders) turned up.

The entire IPL Governing Council, barring Sunil Gavaskar and IS Bindra, also shunned the event though most of the players came to attend the ceremony.

Jury Awards: Best Batsman: Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai Indians); Best Bowler: Pragyan Ojha (Deccan Chargers); Best Debut Performance: Kieron Pollard (Mumbai Indians); Best Dramatic Performance: Harbhajan Singh (Mumbai Indians); Most Consistent Performer: Jacques Kallis (Royal Challengers Bangalore); Best Breakthrough Performance 2008: Brendon McCullum (Kolkata Knight Riders); Best Breakthrough Performance 2009: Anil Kumble (Royal Challengers Bangalore); Best Fielder: AB de Villiers (Delhi Daredevils); Best Ground: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru; Best Stadium Experience: DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai.

Viewers’ Choice Awards: Best Catch: David Hussey (Kolkata Knight Riders); Best Batsman: Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai Indians); Best Captain: Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai Indians); Best Bowler: Pragyan Ojha (Deccan Chargers); Best Commentator: Ravi Shastri; Most Stylish Player: Robin Uthappa (Royal Challengers Bangalore); Most Fan-Friendly Cricketer: Adam Gilchrist (Deccan Chargers); Best Fielder: Suresh Raina (Chennai Super Kings).

Statistical Awards: Most Economical Bowler: Ravichandran Ashwin (Chennai Super Kings); Fastest Hundred: Yusuf Pathan (Rajasthan Royals); Highest Percentage of Runs Scored in Boundaries: Virender Sehwag (Delhi Daredevils).

IPL Captains’ Award: Indian Cricketing Legend I Would Want in my Team: Kapil Dev.