The big story: R Ashwin named best player of the year

Indian spin ace Ravichandran Ashwin capped off a stellar year by taking home the International Cricket Council ‘Player of year’ award for 2016. Ashwin finished the year as the top ranked Test bowler, achieving the feat for the second consecutive year.

Ashwin bagged 48 wickets and scoring 336 runs in eight Tests, while also claiming 27 wickets in 19 Twenty20 Internationals.

The Indian off-spinner was also adjudged the Test Cricketer of the Year 2016, making him only the second Indian player after Rahul Dravid to win both the titles.

Other top stories of the day

Cricket

  1. Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli’s exclusion from the yearly Test XI sparked off a mini outrage among his fans on Twitter. Only matches played between September 14, 2015, to September 20, 2016 were taken into account, which better explained Kohli losing out a place in the middle order.
  2. ICC’s one-day XI, though, had three Indians as a part of it in the form of Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and Virat Kohli. Ashwin was the only Indian in the Test XI, which was dominated by four Englishmen. New Zealand’s Suzie Bates won the women’s T20 and One-day International player of the year. South Africa’s Quinton de Kock’s superb recent run earned him the men’s ODI player of the year. Pakistan was handed the ICC Spirit of Cricket honour while Bangladesh’s young sensation Mustafizur Rahman was selected as the Emerging Cricketer of the year.
  3. Melbourne Renegades defeated Sydney Thunder in the third match of the Big Bash League, taking the game by a handsome margin of 49 runs. The Renegades, who batted first, posted a formidable total of 179, led by a swashbuckling half-century by skipper Aaron Finch. 

Football

  1. India finished 135th in the FIFA rankings, which earned them their best finish in a year since 2010, where they finished 142nd. 
  2. Former Indian skipper Baichung Bhutia weighed in on the Indian Super League versus I-League debate, stating the franchise-based tournament needs to be longer and that the bottom-rung clubs in the country must have a shot at the top echelons of the footballing ladder. 
  3. German club Borussia Monchengladbach signed up former Wolfsburg gaffer Dieter Hecking after parting ways with Andre Schubert for a poor first half to the season. Gladbach currently lie only three points above the relegation zone in the Bundesliga.
  4. France and Tottenham Hotspur captain Hugo Lloris signed a three-year contract extension, which will keep him at the club till 2022. Lloris’ teammates Harry Kane, Kyle Walker, Eric Dier, Danny Rose and Jan Vertonghen also signed extensions recently. Lloris, after penning the new deal, said, “I’m very pleased with this new contract, and of course that’s the way I show my commitment to the club, my team-mates and the gaffer.”
  5. Alan Pardew became the second casualty in the English Premier League after Crystal Palace sacjed the former Newcastle United and West Ham boss for a poor start to the season. Palace currently lie one point above the relegation zone and are reeling at the 17th place in the table. Former England manager Sam Allardyce is tipped as a favourite to take the hot-seat at Selhurst Park.

Tennis

  1. Mahesh Bhupathi replaced Anand Amritraj to become India’s non-playing Davis Cup captain. The veteran will step in after India’s tie with New Zealand in February.
  2. India’s highest-ranked doubles player Rohan Bopanna was dropped for the tie against New Zealand. The The All India Tennis Association committee said the decision was made to accommodate a “third singles player”. Bopanna’s poor record with Leander Paes was also cited as a reason.
  3. Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who underwent surgery after being attacked by a knife by a burglar, is expected to return within six months, read a report from the Guardian. The report quoted Kvitova’s surgeon as stating that the surgery on her left hand went “very well, with no complications.”

Hockey

  1. India beat South Korea 3-0 to claim the Bronze medal in the women’s U-18 Asia Cup. Ritu scored the opener for India while a late Sangita Kumari double added gloss on the scoreline. 
  2. Victorious coach Harendra Singh and player Armaan Qureshi, who were a part of the Junior Hockey team that lifted the World Cup last week, were awarded a measly cash prize of 25,000 and 10, 000 by employers Air India. AI chief Ashwani Lohani blamed the paltry rewards to the company landing in troubled waters in recent times, ““I would have liked to reward them more if not for our current position. But we pledge to work as a family and get Air India back on track,” Ashwani said.

Golf

  1. Indian golfer SSP Chawrasia lashed out on the Indian Olympic Association and Sports ministry for treating the golfers as if they were “servants”. Chawrasia claimed that the boards did not disburse the full preparatory money to him and fellow golfer Anirban Lahiri.  

Shooting

Shooter Heena Sidhu bounced back in style after going through a bit of a slump during the year, clinching 10m air pistol gold in the national championships. Sidhu scored 201.9 to break the record previously held by Malaika Goel’s score of 201.1.