Dhoni nominated in three categories for ICC awards

Dhoni was nominated for ICC Cricketer of the Year, Test Player of the Year and ODI Player of the Year awards.

Gautam Gambhir and Harbhajan Singh were the other Indian nominees for the prestigious Cricketer of the Year award.

VVS Laxman joined the trio of Dhoni, Gambhir and Harbhajan to be in the line for the Test Player of the Year award while Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag were also in the fray for the honour of ODI Player of the Year.

Dhoni has already been the ODI Player of the Year in 2008 besides being named in the ODI Team of the Year.

Zaheer Khan was nominated for Twenty20 Performer of the Year award while Amit Mishra will be vying for the honour in the Emerging Player of the year category as Indians led the overall nominations for the award.

Mithali Raj was nominated for the Women's Cricketer of the year award.
The nominations were announced by dashing Indian opener Virender Sehwag and former captain Ravi Shastri in the presence of International Cricket Council Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat while the awards will be presented on October 1 in Johannesburg, South Africa during the Champions Trophy.

The nominations were based on performances from August 13, 2008 to August 24, 2009 and were selected by a five-member selection panel, headed by former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd.

The panel also included former India Test captain Anil Kumble, Mudassar Nazar of Pakistan, Bob Taylor of England and New Zealand's Stephen Fleming.

The awards include eight individual prizes and also features the selection of the Test and ODI Teams of the Year and the award to the side that has adhered most to the Spirit of Cricket.

Besides Dhoni, Tillakaratne Dilshan has also been nominated in three different categories, while 18 players make appearance in two distinct categories in the sixth edition of the awards.

The individual player awards will be selected by an academy of 25 highly credentialed cricket personalities from around the world.

The academy includes a host of former players and respected members of the media, representatives of the Emirates Elite Panels of ICC Umpires and ICC Match Referees.

The nominations for Women's Cricketer of the Year were decided after a committee of former players, current administrators and journalists created a long-list.

The Spirit of Cricket Award was voted on by all international captains as well as all members of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees.

The Umpire of the Year Award was voted on by the captains and the match referees based on the umpires' performance statistics.

Lists of nominees (in alphabetical order):

Individual Awards --

Cricketer of the Year: Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI), Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind), Gautam Gambhir (Ind), Saqib Al Hasan (Ban), Mitchell Johnson (Aus), Graham Onions (Eng), Thilan Samaraweera (SL), Kumar Sangakkara (SL), Harbhajan Singh (Ind), Graeme Smith (SA), Andrew Strauss (Eng), Daniel Vettori (NZ), AB de Villiers (SA)

Test Player of the Year: Stuart Broad (Eng), Michael Clarke (Aus), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind), Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL), Gautam Gambhir (Ind), Saqib Al Hasan (Ban), Mitchell Johnson (Aus), VVS Laxman (Ind), Jesse Ryder (NZ), Thilan Samaraweera (SL), Ramnaresh Sarwan (WI), Peter Siddle (Aus), Harbhajan Singh (Ind), Graeme Smith (SA), Dale Steyn (SA), Andrew Strauss (Eng), Graeme Swann (Eng), Daniel Vettori (NZ), AB de Villiers (SA).

ODI Player of the Year: Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind), Andrew Flintoff (Eng), Chris Gayle (WI), Umar Gul (Pak), Martin Guptill (NZ), Michael Hussey (Aus), Nuwan Kulasekara (SL), Ajantha Mendis (SL), Muttiah Muralidaran (SL), Yuvraj Singh (Ind), Virender Sehwag (Ind), Thilan Thushara (SL)
Emerging Player: Martin Guptill (NZ), Ben Hilfenhaus (Aus), Philip Hughes (Aus), Amit Mishra (Ind), Graham Onions (Eng), Kemar Roach (WI), Jesse Ryder (NZ), Peter Siddle (Aus),

Twenty20 International Performance of the Year: Shahid Afridi (Pak), Saeed Ajmal (Pak), Dwayne Bravo (WI), Alex Cusack (Ire), Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL), Chris Gayle (WI), Umar Gul (Pak), David Hussey (Aus), Sanath Jayasuriya (SL), Zaheer Khan (Ind), Ajantha Mendis (SL), Wayne Parnell (SA), Abdur Razzak (Ban), David Warner (Aus).

Women’s Cricketer of the Year: Suzie Bates (NZ), Holly Colvin (Eng), Charlotte Edwards (Eng), Laura Marsh (Eng), Sana Mir (Pak), Shelley Nitschke (Aus), Mithali Raj (Ind), Karen Rolton (Aus), Priyanka Roy (Ind), Lisa Sthalekar (Aus), Claire Taylor (Eng), Sarah Taylor (Eng), Stafanie Taylor (WI), Haidee Tiffin (NZ), Aimee Watkins (NZ)

Umpire of the Year: Billy Bowden, Aleem Dar, Steve Davis, Ian Gould, Tony Hill, Daryl Harper, Asad Rauf, Simon Taufel.