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Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been nominated in three categories for International Cricket Council's (ICC) Awards 2009. Sri Lanka's explosive batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan has also got three nominations.
Both Dhoni and Dilshan have been nominated for the Cricketer and Test player of the year awards. Dhoni has also earned nominations for One-day International player of the year award while Dilshan is in the Twenty20 players' list.
The award ceremony would be held in October 1 in Johannesburg. Eighteen players have also earned nominations in two categories.
The nominations were announced at a function hosted by former India all-rounder Ravi Shastri, ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat and Virender Sehwag .The opening batsman Sehwag has also been nominated for the ODI Player of the Year award.
This year's ICC Awards includes eight individual prizes .It will also select Test and ODI Teams of the Year and the award to the side that has adhered most to the Spirit of Cricket.
Lorgat said, “The LG ICC Awards are an opportunity for the ICC and FICA to acknowledge and celebrate the remarkable performances of the world's top players.”
"It is also a chance for followers of our great sport to reflect on some of the great cricketing feats they have witnessed over the past year. This will be the sixth time the awards have been handed out and yet again there are so many great performances to recall. Selecting the winners will no doubt test our selectors and voting academy," he said.
Dilshan is yet to win an ICC Award but this year he may make it as he has three nominations for the ICC Cricketer of the Year, Test Player of the Year and the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year.
Dhoni is a previous winner at the LG ICC Awards having been named as the ODI Player of the Year in 2008. He was also named in the 2008 ODI Team of the Year. This year he has been nominated in the Cricketer of the Year, Test Player of the Year and ODI Player of the Year categories.
Australia's new finds Philip Hughes, Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle and New Zealand duo of Martin Guptill and Jesse Ryder have been nominated in Emerging Player of the Year category. The award list also includes Indian leg-spinner Amit Mishra, Kemar Roach of the West Indies and England seamer Graham Onions.
