Ravichandran Ashwin claims Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year 2016.
Ashwin has now become the third Indian player and overall 12th player to win the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy.
Other players who has won this prestigious award in the past are, Rahul Dravid, who won the award in 2004, Andrew Flintoff and Jacques Kallis were joint winners in 2005, Ricky Ponting won twice in year 2006 and 2007, Shivnarine Chanderpaul in 2008, Mitchell Johnson won twice in the year 2009 and 2014, Sachin Tendulkar in 2010, Jonathan Trott in 2011, Kumar Sangakkara in 2012, Michael Clarke in 2013 and Steve Smith in 2015.
Ashwin also bragged the ICC Test Cricketer of the year, and became the second Indian player after Rahul Dravid to bag two international prizes in the same year.
During the voting period from 14 September 2015 to 20 September 2016, Ravichandran Ashwin, Indian all rounder from Chennai scored 336 runs and took 48 wickets in eight test matches and also claimed 27 wickets in 19 twenty-twenty matches.
Ashwin said: “It’s an absolute pleasure to be awarded with this great honour. It feels great to follow the footsteps of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid and being named as the ICC Cricketer of the Year and by winning the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year, makes it feel even better.
“There are a lot of people to thank for this wonderful achievement I have made. It has been a great couple of years, but this year has been even more special. What is very noticeable is the way I have bowled and batted and the way I have gone about doing my business. What is more important, as far as I am concerned, is the number of people who have gone behind my success.
“I’d like to dedicate this award to my family. I’d like to thank ICC and most importantly my team—mates. I’d also like to thank the support staff for our success. We’ve had a great transition ever since Mahendra Singh Dhoni hung up his boots.
Indian test cricket captain, Virat Kholi was named the captain of ICC ODI Team of the Year, where as Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja also featured into the ODI Team of the year.
