Ravichandran Ashwin named ICC Cricketer of the Year

Dubai: India's premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Thursday was named the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Cricketer of the Year, while Test skipper Virat Kohli was chosen to lead the ODI Team of the Year.

Ashwin was the only Indian in ICC's Test Team of the Year and was also named the Test Cricketer of the Year. Batsman Rohit Sharma and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja were named in the ODI team.

Ashwin has become the third India player and 12th player overall to win the Garfield Sobers Trophy for being the best cricketer of the year.

The 30-year-old followed in the footsteps of Rahul Dravid (2004) and Sachin Tendulkar (2010). Other recipients of the prestigious trophy include Andrew Flintoff and Jacques Kallis (joint-winners in 2005), Ricky Ponting (2006 and 2007), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (2008), Mitchell Johnson (2009 and 2014), Jonathan Trott (2011), Kumar Sangakkara (2012), Michael Clarke (2013) and Steve Smith (2015).

Ashwin also became only the second India player after Dravid (2004) to bag the two coveted awards in the same year. Kallis (2005), Ponting (2006), Sangakkara (2012), Clarke (2013), Johnson (2014) and Smith (2015) are the other players to annex both the awards in the same year.

The voting period for the awards was from September 14, 2015, to September 20, 2016.

The Chennai-born played eight Tests in the period, taking 48 wickets and scoring 336 runs. He also claimed 27 wickets in 19 T20s.

He had finished 2015 as the number-one ranked Test bowler, a position he twice reclaimed in 2016.