
Viru, Sachin win ESPNcricinfo Awards
Virender Sehwag was voted for the best individual Test batting performance in the third annual ESPNcricinfo Awards.
Sachin Tendulkar was picked for the ODI honour for 2009.
The third batting award, for Twenty20 cricket, went to West Indies captain Chris Gayle.
West Indies pacer Jerome Taylor bagged the Test bowling award, while the bowling honours in the ODI and Twenty20 formats went to two Pakistanis, Shahid Afridi and Umar Gul, respectively.
The awards recognise the best individual batting and bowling performances in 2009, in all three formats of the game.
Sehwag's thrill-a-minute 293 against Sri Lanka in Mumbai was voted top Test batting innings for 2009 by all but one member of the jury. He won the award last year for another double-hundred against Sri Lanka -- a match-winning 201 in Galle.
Tendulkar took the batting honour in ODIs with an innings for a losing cause. His 175 came while chasing 351 against Australia in Hyderabad, where he stood alone as his team-mates fell around him.
Taylor, who won the award for the sensational 5 for 11 in Jamaica that hurtled England to defeat in a match seemingly headed for a draw had to fight off stiff competition from Stuart Broad's Ashes-winning 5 for 37 at the Oval.
Afridi won the ODI bowling award for his 6 for 38 in Dubai, which tore into the Australian batting line-up after their openers had got off to a comfortable start.
He was a clear winner in the category, beating Andrew Flintoff's 5 for 19 against West Indies in St Lucia in a rain-shortened match.
Afridi's team-mate Umar Gul took the bowling award in Twenty20 internationals for a searing 5 for 6 at the Oval, which blew away the New Zealand lower order in the World Twenty20.
His closest competition came from another performance from himself: his 4 for 8 against Australia in Dubai.
The closet race in this year's awards was for Twenty20 batting and Gayle's 50-ball 88, which featured the shot of the World Twenty20 - a monster straight six off Brett Lee, sneaked past Tillekaratne Dilshan's 57-ball 96 in the semi final of the same tournament.
Three teams share the six awards for 2009: two wins apiece for Pakistan, West Indies and India.
Besides the award voted by a jury of independent experts, there was also Statsguru Awards, based on statistical evidence derived from Cricinfo's comprehensive stats database.
Gautam Gambhir was chosen as the batsman of the year 2009 as well as Test batsman of the year for Statsguru Awards while Sehwag was the ODI batsman of 2009.
The panel for the jury award consists of Geoffrey Boycott, Ian Chappell, Sanjay Manjrekar, Harsha Bhogle, Daryll Cullinan, David Lloyd, Tony Greig, Peter Roebuck and Ramiz Raja and Cricinfo's senior editors.
Jury Awards, 2009:
Test Batting Performance of the Year
Virender Sehwag, 293 v Sri Lanka, third Test, Mumbai
Test Bowling Performance of the Year
Jerome Taylor, 5 for 11 v England, first Test, Kingston
ODI Batting Performance of the Year
Sachin Tendulkar, 175 v Australia, fifth ODI, Hyderabad
ODI Bowling Performance of the Year
Shahid Afridi, 6 for 38 v Australia, first ODI, Dubai
Twenty20 Batting Performance of the Year
Chris Gayle, 88 v Australia, World Twenty20, London
Twenty20 Bowling Performance of the Year
Umar Gul, 5 for 6 v New Zealand, World Twenty20, London
Statsguru Awards, 2009:
· Batsman of the Year: Gautam Gambhir, India
· Bowler of the Year: Stuart Broad, England
Test
· Test batsman of the year: Gautam Gambhir, India
· Most consistent batsman of the year: Shane Watson, Australia
· Batting pair of the year (opening - at least 8 innings): Simon Katich & Shane Watson, Australia
· Batting pair of the year (others - at least 8 innings): Mahela Jayawardene & Thilan Samaraweera, Sri Lanka
· Highest percent of team runs: Ross Taylor, New Zealand
· Most runs in wins: Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sri Lanka
· Most percentage runs in boundaries: Ross Taylor, New Zealand
· Highest strike rate: Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sri Lanka
· Best strike-rate (cut off 30 wickets): Mitchell Johnson, Australia
· Best Test bowler (cut-off 30 wickets against top teams): Mitchell Johnson, Australia
· Best spinner (cut-off 30 wickets): Graeme Swann, England
· Best third and fourth-innings bowler (cut-off 15 wickets): Harbhajan Singh, India
ODI
· ODI batsman of the year: Virender Sehwag, India
· ODI bowler of the year: James Anderson, England
· Highest strike-rate: Virender Sehwag, India
· Batting pairs of the year (at least eight innings, opening): Brendon McCullum & Jesse Ryder, New Zealand
· Batting pairs of the year (at least eight innings, other pairs): MS Dhoni & Suresh Raina, India
· Highest percentage runs scored in boundaries: Virender Sehwag, India
· Lowest dot ball percentage: Michael Hussey, Australian
· Highest percentage of team runs scored: AB de Villiers, South Africa
· Highest percent of team runs in wins (cut-off 400 runs in wins): AB de Villiers, South Africa
Team
· Most dominant, Tests: India
· Most dominant, ODIs: India
· Most disciplined, ODIs: New Zealand
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