It's the Dileeps 2009! Asian cricket awards of the year
From Virender Sehwag's pyrotechnics to Tillakaratne Dilshan's all-round mastery, it's time to hand out the gongs
It was quite a year for Asian cricket, with Pakistan winning the World Twenty20 and India going top of the Test rankings. Sri Lanka were dominant in home Tests and reached the T20 final, while Bangladesh recorded a series victory against an understrength West Indies side. Here, we look back at the highlights and hand out our awards for 2009.
Test batting performance of the year
Conventional wisdom would dictate a degree of caution when replying to a first-innings total of 393. Virender Sehwag doesn't do conventional though. By close of play on the second day at the Brabourne Stadium, India had careered to 443 for one from only 79 overs. Sehwag's contribution was an unbeaten 284, during the course of which he took apart every hapless bowler that Kumar Sangakkara threw the ball to. With history in sight – not even Sir Donald Bradman had made three triple-centuries – he fell for 293. Two days later, India completed the innings victory that took them to the top of the rankings for the first time.
ODI batting performance of the year
When Sachin Tendulkar fell cheaply in pursuit of 360 in the 2003 World Cup final, it was assumed he had blown his chance. But like Imran Khan, who was four months past his 38th birthday before his World Cup obsession was consummated, he refuses to give up on the dream. In a year where he scored 972 runs at 54, the best was saved for Australia, and another improbable run chase. With Suresh Raina for company,Tendulkar unveiled his full repertoire as India threatened to overhaul a score of 350 . But when he fell after 175 from 141 balls, those who followed did the lemming routine. Australia won by three runs.
T20 batting performance of the year
Tillakaratne Dilshan's 96 in the semi-final of the World Twenty20 is the obvious frontrunner, but I'll go with an innings that was even more eye-catching. Maturity isn't a word that too many people associate with Shahid Afridi, but with his team in some strife at Trent Bridge, he worked the ball around cleverly before exploding into life. His 51 from 34 balls took Pakistan to 149, and a miserly spell did the rest. An encore in the final confirmed his status as a genuine T20 treasure.
Test bowling of the year
Given what's happened to Ishant Sharma in 2009, you don't wish to tempt fate by hyping another fast bowler from the subcontinent. But there's something about Mohammad Aamer that suggests he'll be around for the long haul. At the MCG, one of the most intimidating venues on Earth, he had Ricky Ponting caught pulling and Michael Hussey beaten for pace before returning the next day to scalp Michael Clarke, Marcus North and Brad Haddin. Bowling with genuine pace and swinging the ball, he should also have had Shane Watson for 99 – and the freedom of Jamaica as a result? – but sadly several of his team-mates appear to have a deep-rooted aversion to catching the ball.
ODI bowling of the year
Angelo Mathews had the year's best figures, but his six for 20 against India came in a match with nothing at stake. , Afridi had illustrated why he's now an automatic pick for his bowling alone, sending Australia's batsmen into a spin from which they never recovered. Haddin was deceived by the flight, and Andrew Symonds done in by what was effectively an off-cutter, but it was the doosra that sent back Watson that really broke the back of the innings. His mastery of the other one was too much for the tail as Australia were dismissed for only 168.
T20 bowling of the year
When Simon Jones and friends reverse-swung it, there were oohs and aahs. When Umar Gul and his Pakistani mates do it, there are snide comments about ball tampering. At The Oval, in a match that Pakistan simply had to win, Gul was introduced only in the 13th over. A wondrous catch from Afridi sent back Scott Styris and then Gul's ability to fire in swinging yorkers at will came to the fore. By the time he was done sending stumps cartwheeling, he had five for six and New Zealand were skittled for 99.
Test match of the year
India's great escape at Napier and Pakistan's narrow defeat in Dunedin are contenders, but for sheer drama it was hard to match the game in Galle. Pakistan led by 50 on first innings, and needed only 168 to win the game. They finished the third day requiring 97, with eight wickets in hand. But when Sangakkara called on Rangana Herath to bowl the second over the next morning, the game changed. Mohammad Yousuf went first ball, and in just over an hour Pakistan were bowled out for 117. Those on the ramparts of the famous old fort went berserk.
ODI of the year
The run-fest at Rajkot nearly matched it for nail-biting intensity, butHyderabad gets the nod for the most topsy-turvy of games. Watson's blistering 93 and Shaun Marsh's 112 took Australia to 350, but with Raina and Tendulkar, batting with unbridled freedom, adding 137 for the fifth wicket, India needed only 52 from the last 46 balls. When Tendulkar top-edged a paddle-sweep off Clint McKay, the debutant who finished with three for 59, the equation was 19 from 17 balls. Praveen Kumar then slugged Doug Bollinger for six to get India back within range, but a lovely throw from Nathan Hauritz caught him fractionally short as Australia sneaked home by three runs.
T20 of the year
Halfway through their innings, Pakistan had made 68 for two, with Afridi on 30 from 25 balls. After walloping Jacques Kallis for two fours over midwicket and then bowling him a kiss, he had gone into consolidation mode. But when Johan Botha came on, something snapped. Three hefty inside-out heaves over cover were followed by the deftest of late cuts as Pakistan stormed to 149 for four. With ball in hand, he castled both Herschelle Gibbs and AB de Villiers during a magnificent spell of two for 16. Neither Kallis nor JP Duminy was able to accelerate and Pakistan sneaked home by seven runs. The party outside Trent Bridge, blaring car horns and all, went on long past midnight.
Newcomer of the year
The 17-year-old Aamer is a strong contender, but one of his team-mates just pips him to it. Umar Akmal will turn 20 next May, but there are already signs that he'll carry Pakistan's fragile batting for the next decade. Having made a dazzling hundred on debut in Dunedin, he has since added four half-centuries to his tally, while also averaging more than 44 in the one-day arena. Compact, possessed of a cool head and capable of playing most strokes, he's one to watch as cricket embraces a new decade.
Comeback kid
Herath returned from league-cricket obscurity to take 34 wickets and there were 22 for Mohammad Asif on his recall from drug-related stupidity, but this particular gong goes to a man who turns 37 in January. His career was on skid row last December, but with 747 runs at 83 from six Tests in 2009, Rahul Dravid has reclaimed his place in the sun. Without his defiant 177 on the opening day of the series against Sri Lanka, the series result could have been so very different.
Cricketer of the year
Normally, this category would fuel the greatest debate. Given the year that Dilshan has had though, any discussion is redundant. Who can quibble with 1,071 Test runs at 64.52, an even 1,000 in one-dayers at 55.55 and 471 in T20s at 42.81? And all of this at a frenetic pace matched only by Sehwag. Two years ago he was on the periphery of things, but since being asked to open, he's proved to be the perfect right-handed replacement for the waning Sanath Jayasuriya.
Team of the year
Bounced out of the World Twenty20 in the Super Eights, and eliminated after a loss to Pakistan at the Champions Trophy, India were also beaten 4-2 by an injury-ravaged Australian side in a home one-day series. But either side of such disappointments, they finished the year with three Test wins [and three draws], and a 17-10 ODI record. With Pakistan hopeless in the Test arena and Sri Lanka regressing in ODIs, India were the pick of a poor bunch. But with some leading lights in the twilight of their careers, it remains to be seen if they can cling to the top of the tree.
