On Thursday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that the Indian captain Virat Kohli will be receiving the prestigious Polly Umrigar award for his outstanding show in the past two seasons on the international arena. Kohli will be presented with the best international cricketer award (2016-17 & 2017-18) at the BCCI Awards (Naman), which is scheduled to take place in Bengaluru on June 12.

The media release of BCCI regarding the same read: “While Virat gets top honors in the men’s category, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana are set to be maiden recipients of the award for best international cricketer (women) for the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons respectively.”

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Talking about the same, CoA Chairman, Vinod Rai said, “I congratulate all the winners of the BCCI Annual Awards. The last two years have been fabulous for Indian Cricket with both the men and women’s teams doing very well. We are proud of their achievements and this is our small way of acknowledging their on-field efforts.”

While, BCCI’s acting president, CK Khanna said, “The BCCI Annual Awards is an occasion where former greats of the game, the present generation and the stars of tomorrow come under one roof. For BCCI, it is an opportunity to show its gratitude towards cricketers who enrich this game with their skills and hard work.”

Meanwhile, to honor one of its finest leaders, the BCCI has rechristened four awards in remembrance of Late Jagmohan Dalmiya. The Jagmohan Dalmiya Trophy will be presented to the leading run-scorer and wicket-taker respectively in the U-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy and to the Best Junior and Senior Cricketer in women’s cricket.

Also, Indian cricket board has also raised prize money for nine categories by INR 1 lakh and the revised prize money is INR 1.5 lakh.