BCCI happy over ICC awards to Dhoni, Yuvraj

MUMBAI: The Cricket Board on Wednesday expressed happiness over the ICC annual awards won by Indian players Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh while adding it expected Ishant Sharma too to join the ranks of the award winners.
    
"We are happy that two Indian players received the ICC's annual awards, particularly Mahendra Singh Dhoni who had an outstanding season. We thought that probably (young pacer) Ishant Sharma would also get the Emerging Player honour, but it did not happen," said BCCI's CAO Ratnakar Shetty on Wednesday.
    
Last night Dhoni was named the ODI Player of the Year and Yuvraj won the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year Award.
    
Dhoni beat back tough competition from team-mate Sachin Tendulkar, Australian fast bowler Nathan Bracken and Pakistan stalwart Mohammad Yousuf to take the prestigious award.
    
During the voting period, the swashbuckling wicket keeper-batsman played 39 ODIs and scored 1,298 runs at an average of 49.92 and at a strike rate of 82.46. He also hit a century and nine fifties.
    
The Ranchi-based Dhoni, currently ranked number one batsman in the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Player rankings, also effected 62 dismissals (46 catches and 16 stumpings).
    
Yuvraj was deservedly honoured for his stupendous six sixes in an over off England pacer Stuart Broad in the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship won by India in South Africa last year.
    
But the gangling Sharma lost out to Sri Lanka's spin sensation Ajantha Mendis who bagged the Emerging Player honour at the annual ICC awards function held in Dubai.