Ravichandran Ashwin bags Best Player in Team Sports award at India Sports Honours

Star Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin won the award for Best player in Team Sports award category at the recent Virat Kohli Foundation organized Indian Sports Honours event. India’s women’s team captain Mithali Raj won the award for Best Player in the female category.

Ravi Ashwin overhauled the likes of Kabaddi player Pardeep Narwal, Indian national football team captain Sunil Chhetri and Indian hockey star Rupinder Pal Singh, his teammates Cheteshwar Pujara and Hardik Pandya to receive the prestigious accolade.

On the other hand, Mithali Raj, who led the Indian team to the finals of 2017 ICC Women’s world cup went on to receive the Best Sportswoman in TeamSport award, while she also collected the award for Team of the Year on her side’s behalf.

Ravichandran Ashwin is also the current holder of the ICC Cricketer of the Year award due to his performances in Test Cricket off-late. Ash had been on a wicket-taking spree during the grand home season of Test cricket which featured top teams such as New Zealand, England, Australia and Bangladesh. He then continued his good work with the ball in the series against Sri Lanka.

As Virat Kohli ruled himself out of the contention for the awards due to his association with the programme, Ashwin was the leading contender to receive the accolade. The event was organized by the Indian team skipper’s foundation in tandem with the RPSG group.

Badminton stalwart PV Sindhu, gymnast Sakshi Malik and Dipa Karmakar, along with athlete Lalita Babar and tennis ace Sania Mirza were also nominated for the sportswoman of the year section. In the team event category, the list included Indian junior hockey team, the senior cricket, hockey and kabaddi teams along with women’s cricket and hockey teams.

Smriti Mandhana had been nominated for the emerging sportswoman of the year category in the Indian Sports Honour award alongside the likes of Aditi Ashok (golf) and Ritu Phogat (wrestling).