With the third edition of the Indian Premier League(IPL) entering the stage of grand finale amidst all the high-voltage controversies and allegations, the evening of April 23 witnessed the presentation of the first ever IPL Awards. The glittering ceremony which took place at the Grand Hyatt, Mumbai was embarked by the presence of the best from the world of entertainment and sports. However, strengthening the reports of the BCCI-Modi spat, the bigwigs of the BCCI gave a skip to the event. The BCCI top brass including the BCCI President Shashank Manohar and the Secretary N Srinivasan along with the IPL Vice-chairman Niranjan Shah remained absent from the Sahara Indian Premier League Awards function. Those who marked their attendance at the event were the IPL Governing Council member Sunil Gavaskar and former BCCI President Inderjit Singh Bindra who is the Principal Advisor to the International Cricket Council (ICC). Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, who turns 37 this Saturday, grabbed the viewers’ choice award for the Best Captain for turning out to be a superb captain leading from the front and taking his team, the Mumbai Indians, through to the finals of the IPL tournament for the first time in the last three years. He also won the award for the Best Batsman, being the highest run scorer in this season of the League, though he gave a miss to the event along with the Chennai Super Kings skipper M.S.Dhoni. Pragyan Ojha received the award for the Best Bowler while Suresh Raina took away the award for the Best Fielder in the viewers’ choice category. Keiron Pollard of Mumbai Indians, who happens to be the costliest player of his team in this year's auction, was adjudged the Best Debutant performer for the season by the jury. … [Read more...]