Ravi Shastri to receive BCCI's lifetime achievement award, Shubman Gill to receive big honour

Digital Desk: The Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) Awards, which are scheduled to take place in Hyderabad on Tuesday, January 23, will present the esteemed lifetime achievement award to former head coach and World Cup-winning all-rounder Ravi Shastri. 

Along with his former colleagues, Ravi Shastri will be collecting the CK Nayudu Award for lifetime achievement, alongside Sunil Gavaskar, Kris Srikkanth, Syed Kirmani, and Kapil Dev.

After several postponements owing to the Covid-19 epidemic, the BCCI Awards ceremony will take place for the first time since 2019. The ceremony, which will be graced by former cricketers from around the nation, is expected to be attended by the visiting England Test side as well as the Indian Test team.

The World Cup final hero and former India opener, Kris Srikkanth took home the CK Nayudu Award for lifetime achievement in 2019.

In addition to the lifetime achievement award, the BCCI is expected to present honors on Tuesday for the best domestic side, best umpire, and best men's international cricketer. The Polly Umrigar Award will go to the best women's international cricketer representing India.

According to India Today, Shubman Gill is expected to win the Polly Umrigar Award for 2023's best men's cricket player of the year. 2019 saw Jasprit Bumrah take up the award, one year after making his Test debut. In international cricket, Gill amassed the highest run total of any hitter in 2023 with 2154. He scored seven hundreds, his first in T20I and an ODI double hundred.

The recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award are Nari Contractor, Gundappa Viswanath, Mohinder Amarnath, Salim Durani, Ajit Wadekar, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Dilip Vengsarkar, Syed Kirmani, Rajinder Goel and Padmaka Shivalkar, Pankaj Roy, and Anshuman Gaekwad.

In his 6938 runs in international cricket, including 15 hundreds, Ravi Shastri played 80 Tests and 150 ODIs for India. At the top level, he amassed 280 wickets for India. The left-arm spinner contributed to India's victories in the 1983 World Cup and the 1985 Champions of Champions tournament.

Following his retirement, Ravi Shastri assumed responsibility for commentary and served as the BCCI's senior national men's team crisis manager. Before beginning one of his most prosperous tenures as head coach in 2017, he served as the club manager from 2014 to 2015. As the two legends went on to mold India into one of the best touring Test sides, Shastri's collaboration with former captain Virat Kohli was widely discussed. In 2019, India advanced to the ODI World Cup semifinals under Shastri.

Shastri has returned to the commentary box since leaving his position as coach in 2021, and he's become one of the most in-demand guys to hold the microphone.