Dhoni nominated for twin honours

NEW DELHI: Mahendra Singh Dhoni remained in line for twin honours at the LG ICC Awards 2008 while his Team India colleagues Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh and Ishant Sharma were also nominated in various categories for cricket's version of Oscar to be given away in Dubai on Wednesday.
    
Though none of the Indians could make it to the shortlist for the Cricketer of the Year - the most coveted honour, the Test Player of the Year and Women's Player of the Year, Dhoni was in race for the award in both the ODI and Twenty20 charts.
    
Yuvraj's scintillating display in the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup, especially his six sixes off a Stuart Broad over, got him a nomination for the newly-introduced Twenty20 International Performance of the Year category, where he would have to vie with, among others, his captain Dhoni.
    
Dhoni is also in the hunt for the ODI Player of the Year award. He faces competition from compatriot Sachin Tendulkar, who made the cut, thanks to the 1310 runs he scored during the past one year.
    
Ishant, courtesy his sensational performance in the away Test series against Australia, is among the four youngsters in hunt for the Emerging Player of the Year but the lanky Indian would have to beat, among others, Sri Lankan mystery spinner
Ajantha Mendis to lay his hands on the award.
    
ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat, who announced the shortlist here Monday, said these awards would be a perfect celebration of some of the cricketing milestones.
    
"Cricket's equivalent of Oscars, it would be celebrating the best of the best and I think the five-member ICC Selection Panel, headed by Clive Lloyd, has done a wonderful job," Lorgat said.

Apart from the former West Indies captain, other members of the panel are Greg Chappell (Australia), Shaun Pollock (South Africa), Sidath Wettymuni (Sri Lanka) and Atahar Ali Khan (Bangladesh).
    
Three players - Shivnarine Chanderpaul of the West Indies, Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena and South African Dale Steyn could enjoy a bumper night in Dubai on Wednesday for each is nominated in both the Cricketer of the Year and Test Player of the Year categories.
    
The other nominee for the Cricketer of the Year prize is South Africa captain Graeme Smith while his team-mate Jacques Kallis is a further nominee in the Test category.
    
None of the four players shortlisted for the Cricketer of the Year Award has previously lifted the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy so there is certain to be a new name to join the roll-call of winners.
    
Previous winner of this top individual honour are Rahul Dravid of India (2004), England's Andrew Flintoff and Jacques Kallis of South Africa (2005) and Australia captain Ricky Ponting (2006, 2007).
    
Meanwhile, Simon Taufel has a chance of an unprecedented five successive Umpire of the Year awards after being nominated alongside Mark Benson, Aleem Dar, Steve Davis and Rudi Koertzen.
    
Performance from August 9,2007 to August 12, 2008 was taken into account while finalising the nominations.

The LG ICC Awards ceremony is now in its fifth year and this will be the first time it has been staged in Dubai. Previous ceremonies were held in London (2004), Sydney (2005), Mumbai (2006) and Johannesburg (2007).
    
V Ramchandran, director of marketing at LG Electronics India Ltd was also present on the occasion.
    
Shortlists for LG ICC Awards 2008:
Cricketer of the Year: Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Mahela Jayawardene, Graeme Smith and Dale Steyn.
Test Player of the Year: Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Mahela Jayawardene, Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn.
ODI Player of the Year: Nathan Bracken, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammad Yousuf.
Emerging Player of the Year: Stuart Broad, Ajantha Mendis, Morne Morkel and Ishant Sharma.
Associate Player of the Year: Ryan ten Doeschate, Alex Obanda, Niall OBrien and Thomas Odoyo.
Twenty20 International Performance of the Year: Chris Gayle, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Brett Lee and Yuvraj Singh.
Womens Player of the Year: Nicola Browne, Charlotte Edwards, Lisa Sthalekar and Claire Taylor.
Spirit of Cricket: Bangladesh, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and West Indies.
Umpire of the Year: Mark Benson, Aleem Dar, Steve Davis, Rudi Koertzen and Simon Taufel.