Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli will be given the Polly Umrigar Award for being the best cricketer of the year for a couple of seasons i.e. 2016-17 & 2017-18 at the BCCI Awards ceremony in Bangalore. Scheduled to take place on  June 12, 2018, the winners include names from the women's cricket team as well. Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana will be given best international cricketer award for the year 2016-17 & 2017-18. The  BCCI has also increased the prize to Rs 1.5 lakh which was earlier Rs 1 lakh.

The board has further decided to add a few more categories when in age group cricket. One of them will be dedicated to former BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya, and the Jagmohan Dalmiya Trophy will be given to highest run-scorer and wicket-taker respectively in the U-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy and to the Best Junior and Senior Cricketer in women’s cricket.

“I congratulate all the winners of the BCCI Annual Awards. The last two years have been fabulous for Indian Cricket with both the men and women’s teams doing very well. We are proud of their achievements and this is our small way of acknowledging their on-field efforts,” Vinod Rai, chairman of CoA, said.

Owing to their consistent performances at the Domestic level, the Cricket Association on Bengal has been sentenced as the best State Association for 2016-17. Whereas, Delhi and District Cricket Association won the best State Association award for 2017-18.

“The BCCI Annual Awards is an occasion where former greats of the game, the present generation and the stars of tomorrow come under one roof. For BCCI, it is an opportunity to show its gratitude towards cricketers who enrich this game with their skills and hard work,” CK Khanna, BCCI’s acting president, said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 07, 2018 03:23 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).