Dhoni, Gambhir

Calcutta: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and opener Gautam Gambhir were each nominated for two categories, while Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag were shortlisted for the ODI Player of the Year category of the International Cricket Council annual awards to be announced on October 1 in Johannesburg.

The ICC announced the shortlists for the awards on Tuesday.

Gambhir, Dhoni, Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson and Englishman Andrew Strauss have been shortlisted for the Sir Garfield Sobers trophy for Cricketer of the Year after voting by an independent 25-member academy.

In addition, Gambhir, Johnson and Strauss were also shortlisted for the Test Player of the Year alongside Sri Lanka’s Thilan Samaraweera.

Dhoni is also in contention to retain the ODI Player of the Year award he won last year as he is shortlisted in that category with teammates Yuvraj and Sehwag as well as West Indies’ Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Pacer Zaheer Khan, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, VVS Laxman, Amit Mishra and women team’s former captain Mithali Raj, who made the long list of various categories earlier were left out of the final list of nominees.

Johnson is the lone Aussie to make the nominees’ list of the top three awards.

The Twenty20 International Performance of the year shortlist does not feature any Indians. Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi and pacer Umar Gul, who are joined by West Indies’ Chris Gayle and Sri Lanka’s Tillekaratne Dilshan make up that list.

This year’s awards include eight individual prizes and also features the selection of the Test and ODI Teams of the Year and the award to the side that has adhered most to the Spirit of Cricket.

The nominations were made by a five-man ICC selection panel.

ICC shortlist of Nominees

Cricketer of the Year: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind), Gautam Gambhir (Ind), Mitchell Johnson (Aus), Andrew Strauss (Eng).
Test Player of the Year: Gautam Gambhir (Ind), Mitchell Johnson (Aus), Thilan Samaraweera (SL), Andrew Strauss (Eng).
ODI Player of the Year: Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind), Virender Sehwag (Ind), Yuvraj Singh (Ind).
T20 International Performance of the Year: Shahid Afridi (Pak), Tillekaratne Dilshan (SL), Chris Gayle (WI), Umar Gul (Pak).
Emerging Player of the year: Ben Hilfenhaus (Aus), Graham Onions (Eng), Jesse Ryder (NZ), Peter Siddle (Aus).
Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year: Rizwan Cheema (Can), Ryan ten Doeschate (Ned), William Porterfield (Ire), Edgar Schiferli (Ned).
Women’s Cricketer of the Year: Charlotte Edwards (Eng), Shelley Nitschke (Aus), Claire Taylor (Eng).
Umpire of the Year: Aleem Dar, Tony Hill, Asad Rauf, Simon Taufel.
Spirit of Cricket: Australia, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka.