MS Dhoni wins ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade

Dhoni bagged the award for calling back England batsman Ian Bell after a bizarre run out in the Nottingham Test in 2011

New Delhi: Former India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Monday bagged the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade for his gesture of calling back England batsman Ian Bell after a bizarre run out in the Nottingham Test in 2011.

During India’s tour of England in 2011, in the second Test, Bell was run out after scoring 137 runs as he had left the crease before the ball was dead at the cusp of tea. The then England skipper Andrew Strauss and coach Andy Flower enquired with Dhoni during the break if the run-out decision could be overturned and the visitors agreed to withdraw the appeal.

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In the third session when Eoin Morgan and Bell walked out to bat the crowd which had earlier booed, appreciated the Indian camp’s gesture.

Meanwhile, Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry has won the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award for ICC Female Cricketer of the Decade. The Australian stalwart has also been adjudged as ICC Women’s ODI and T20I Cricketer of the Decade.

Perry was also part of the Australian team that won the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2013 and the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2012, 2014, 2018, and 2020. Dhoni on Sunday was named as the captain of ICC Men’s ODI and T20I Team of the Decade. He is among the most successful captains in world cricket.

It was under his leadership that India lifted the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011 after having led India to triumph in the ICC World T20 in its maiden edition held in 2007 in South Africa.
With India winning the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013 in England, Dhoni became the first and is still the only captain to date to have won all three ICC Trophies.

Also, the winners of all the individual awards will receive a unique artwork created in a collaboration between the ICC, Mumbai-based studio Kulture Shop and Indian artist Pratap Chalke.

The Rachel Heyhoe-Flint and Sir Garfield Sobers winners get a spectacular hand-painted artwork bat, while the other individual award winners receive a limited-edition canvas painting that captures their unique passion and spirit.

Also read:

Dhoni named as captain of ICC Men’s ODI, T20 Team of the Decade

Virat Kohli named ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade