Ravindra Jadeja voted best player of Indian grand home season by fans

Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been voted as the best player of the recently concluded grand home season of the Indian cricket by the readers and fans of ESPNcricinfo. Along with the readers, there was an expert panel set up by ESPNcricinfo to have their verdicts on a series of awards for the Indian season of 2016-17. The panel comprised of the staff members in addition to former Indian cricketers Sanjay Manjrekar, Ajit Agarkar and Aakash Chopra. There were as many as over 20500 votes been cast and the Saurashtra lad managed to get 65 per cent of those.

In the season when India played 13 Tests, Ravindra Jadeja  averaged an impressive 22.83 with the ball and had a stunning batting average of 42.76 in the lower order. The season kickstarted with India hosting New Zealand and drubbing them 3-0. The English side was the next to visit and they had to endure an embarrassing 4-0 defeat as well. Bangladesh were beaten in the one off Test they played at Hyderabad and a fighting 2-1 win over Australia capped off a marvellous season of Indian cricket.

Jadeja finished as the leading wicket taker in the Australia series with 25 wickets to his name in 4 matches. No wonder why Ravindra Jadeja was the readers favorite in the awards. In the same readers’ choice category, young English batsman Haseeb Hameed was named as the best debutant of the season. Cheteshwar Pujara’s marathon innings of 202 won him the best innings award while Australian skipper Steven Smith won the best visiting player award.

Here are the reader’s season award winners:

Best Player – Ravindra Jadeja

Best Innings – Cheteshwar Pujara (202 v Australia at Ranchi)

Best Bowling – Jadeja 7/48 v England at Chennai

Best Supporting Act – Umesh Yadav

Best Test – Ind v Aus at Bengaluru

Best Debutant – Haseeb Hameed

Best Visiting Player – Steven Smith

Along with the readers, there were the three panel members who had their choices made as well. While Aakash Chopra stuck with Jadeja’s name as the best player, Sanjay Manjrekar chose Virat Kohli as his pick and Agarkar picked Cheteshwar Pujara. Manjrekar also rated Steve Smith’s ton at Pune as the best innings citing the fact the other batsmen hardly found their feet moving on the rank turner. In his opinion, Kuldeep Yadav was the best debutant.

Sanjay Manjrekar’s player awards of the season:

Best Player – Virat Kohli

Best Innings – Steven Smith (109 v India at Pune)

Best Bowling – Nathan Lyon 8/50 v India at Bengaluru

Best Supporting Act – Umesh Yadav

Best Test – Ind v Aus at Dharamsala

Best Debutant – Kuldeep Yadav

Best Visiting Player – Steven Smith

Ajit Agarkar also believed that Steven Smith was indeed the best visiting player. Smith amassed 499 runs in the four Tests he played against India this season. However, Agarkar made a surprising choice with his favorite innings as he rated Pujara’s 92 in the Bengaluru Test to be the best one. Also, he felt that Haryana offie Jayant Yadav was the find of the season and deserved the Best debutant award.

Ajit Agarkar’s player awards of the season:

Best Player – Cheteshwar Pujara

Best Innings – Cheteshwar Pujara (92 v Australia at Bengaluru)

Best Bowling – Umesh Yadav 3/29 v Australia at Dharamsala

Best Supporting Act – Umesh Yadav

Best Test – Ind v Aus at Dharamsala

Best Debutant – Jayant Yadav

Best Visiting Player – Steven Smith

Aakash Chopra’s award winners matched the most with the reader’s choice awards. Ravindra Jadeja was his player of the season and his spell of 7/48 was the best bowling performance according to Chopra. Also, Umesh Yadav completed his quartet of being the best support in all four category choices.

Aakash Chopra’s player awards of the season:

Best Player – Ravindra Jadeja

Best Innings – Virat Kohli (235 v England at Mumbai)

Best Bowling – Ravindra Jadeja v England at Chennai

Best Supporting Act – Umesh Yadav

Best Test – Ind v Aus at Bengaluru

Best Debutant – Haseeb Hameed

Best Visiting Player – Steven Smith