ESPNCricinfo Awards | Cheteshwar Pujara and Jasprit Bumrah get Test batting and bowling awards respectively
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Cheteshwar Pujara, for his Adelaide hundred, and Jasprit Bumrah, for his hostile spell in Melbourne, received the Test batting and bowling performance of the year award at ESPN Cricinfo awards function. Kuldeep Yadav, meanwhile, won the limited-overs performance of the year prize.
It was Indians all the way in one of the most respected cricketing awards as the players bagged five awards out of the 12 categories. Pujara’s defensive masterclass of 123 runs on the first day of the series against Australia helped India set the early tone and the template was set for the rest of the series. India followed it beautifully to take the series honours to mark a historic occasion.Â
Jasprit Bumrah brought a seemingly dead pitch alive in Melbourne to give India a historic win in the Boxing Day Test. While his performances were pretty good in almost all matches last year, his bowling intelligence in the Test underlined the tremendous fitness regime that he has subjected himself to in the longest format of the game. More so, that resulted in India winning the series in Australia which made it even sweeter. While Pujara had beaten close contender AB de Villiers for his hundred in the win against Australia in Port Elizabeth, Bumrah managed to stay ahead of Kagiso Rabada who was nominated for his 6 for 54 in the same Test for the Proteas.
Kuldeep, meanwhile, took the limited-overs bowling honours for his performances on India's tour of England: a six-for in an ODI at Trent Bridge and a five-for in a T20I at Old Trafford. India's Harmanpreet Kaur won the women's batting award for
While Sam Curran, who won the Player of the Series for the England-India Tests, was voted as the Debutant of the Year, English women’s team all-rounder Natalie Sciver won the women's bowling award for her three for four against South Africa at the first women's World T20 match last year.
