Bhubaneswar: Debasish Samantray and Sushree Dibyadarshani have been selected to receive the male and female Sahid Sporting Maruti Estate India Cricketer Of The Year awards respectively.
While announcing their names, Sahid Sporting Club secretary Pankaj Patnaik said they are receiving the awards for the 2019-20 season for their outstanding performances. The awards each carry a purse of Rs 31,000, a trophy and a citation. They will be awarded at a special ceremony.
A left-hand batsman, Debasish put up a magnificent performance for the state in Ranji Trophy in 2019-20 season. He scored a total of 535 runs with two centuries and equal numbers of half-centuries in 12 innings of eight matches at an average of 53.50.
He becomes the 28th cricketer to receive the award.
Similarly, Sushree Dibyadarshani’s performance in the last season was also noteworthy. An all-rounder, she scored 204 runs in 50-over one-day national tournament and took 16 wickets in eight matches. Playing for India-B in Senior Women’s T-20 Challenge Trophy, she picked seven wickets in four matches.
She was also remarkable in Emerging Asia Cup and T-20 Emerging Quadrilateral Competitions.
The selection committee comprising of Maruti Estate’s managing director Jitendra Prasad Singh, club’s secretary Pankaj Patnaik and sports journalists such as Sanatan Pani, Sushant Mohanty, Suresh Swain, Samiksha Patnaik, Sanjeeb Biswal and some others had finalised the two names in a virtual meeting.
While Debashis is receiving the ‘Cricketer Of The Year’ award for the first time, Sushree Dibyadarshani has been selected for the second time. She had received the award in 2017-18.
With an aim to encourage cricketers of the state, the award was instituted in the year 1992-93, making it the oldest and regular annual sports award in Odisha sports arena. Ranjib Biswal, P Jayachandra, Rashmiranjan Parida, Debashish Mohanty, Prabhanjan Mallick, Shiv Sundar Das are some of the recipients of this award.
PNN