Dhoni gets ICC Spirit of Cricket Award, Tendulkar misses out
Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the Spirit of Cricket Award while iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar missed out the Cricketer of the Year honour at a glittering ICC Awards function here on Monday night.
Dhoni was chosen for the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award for his fine gesture of recalling Ian Bell after the England batsman was run out under controversial circumstances during the second Test at Trent Bridge in July.
Tendulkar, who was named Cricketer of the Year in 2010 when the awards function was held in Bengaluru, missed out this time.
England's Jonathan Trott won the top award after beating competition from his national team-mate Alastair Cook and South Africa's Hashim Amla, besides that of Tendulkar. India's opening batsman Gautam Gambhir also missed out the ODI Player of the Year Award, which was won by Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara.
Dhoni turned out to be the lone Indian to win an ICC award this year. Despite being wrapped up in an intense and difficult Test series in England, Dhoni showed the right spirit in agreeing to allow Bell to continue batting when he was run out.
On what was the last ball before tea on the third day, Bell hit the ball towards the boundary. He mistakenly thought it had gone for four, left his crease and headed towards the pavilion assuming the session was over and the ball dead. The ball, which had not reached the rope and therefore was still in play, was returned to the middle, the bails removed and Bell was correctly given run out.
Upon reflection during the tea interval and following a request from the England team, Dhoni withdrew the appeal and recalled Bell thus turning boos into cheers from the appreciative Nottingham crowd.
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