ICC introduces Player of the Month awards; Siraj, Pant, T Natarajan in contention among others
Dubai, Jan 27: India's senior off-spinner R Ashwin and swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant were on Wednesday nominated for the newly-introduced player of the month awards by the International Cricket Council.
Besides Ashwin and Pant, two other Indians -- Mohammed Siraj and T Natarajan -- are also in the fray. All of them played a stellar role in India's recent historic Test series win against Australia.
The world body said the awards will recognise the best performances of both male and female cricketers across all forms of international cricket throughout the year.
Other players named for the awards for January are England captain Joe Root, star Australia batsman Steve Smith, Rahmanullah Gurbaz of Afghanistan, Marizanne Kapp and Nadine de Klerk of South Africa and Nida Dar of Pakistan.
Fans are invited to vote online every month to award their favourite male and female cricketers across all formats of international cricket played in that month, the ICC said in a release.
An independent ICC Voting Academy comprising former players, broadcasters and journalists from around the world will team up with fans to vote for the winners.
Geoff Allardice, ICC General Manager Cricket said: "The ICC Player of the Month is a great way to connect with fans of the sport and celebrate performances of their favourite players through the year.
"It gives us all an opportunity to acknowledge world class performances on the field by male and female cricketers and they have been in abundance throughout January."
The three nominees for each of the categories will be determined by the ICC Awards Nominations Committee based on on-field performances and overall achievements during the period of that month (the first to the last day of each calendar month.)
The Voting Academy will submit its votes by email and will retain a 90 per cent share of the vote. Subsequently, on the first day of each month, fans registered with the ICC will be able to submit votes via the ICC website and will have a 10 per cent share of the vote.
Winners will be announced every second Monday of the month on the ICC's digital channels.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Kangana Ranaut shown black flags in Himachal's Lahaul and Spiti, BJP files complaint with CEO
Shimla, May 20: Actor Kangana Ranaut, BJP candidate from the Mandi parliamentary constituency, was shown black flags by local people and Congress workers at Kaza in Lahaul and Spiti on Monday.
The Himachal Pradesh BJP filed a complaint with the state chief electoral officer (CEO) demanding transfer of election officials and an investigation into the incident as both the BJP and the Congress were given permission to hold rallies adjacent to each other.
The Congress workers raised anti-Kangana slogans - "Kangana, go back, Kangana Vangana nahi chalegi". They were apparently enraged over her remarks on Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama in April last year.
Ranaut had tweeted a meme featuring the Dalai Lama that said, "The Dalai Lama receives a warm welcome at the White house". The photoshopped picture in the tweet showed the Dalai Lama sticking his tongue out with US President Joe Biden with a comment - Both of them have the same illness, definitely they could be friends.
Following this, a group of Buddhists staged a dharna outside her office in Mumbai.
Later she apologised saying she didn't mean to hurt anyone, and it was a harmless joke about Biden being friends with the Dalai Lama.
Leader of the Opposition in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly Jai Ram Thakur, who had accompanied Ranaut to Kaza to campaign for the BJP, on Monday alleged that the Congress workers tried to disturb the meeting of the BJP and pelted stones on their carcade while they were returning.
Talking to reporters, he said, "It is unfortunate that for the first time, permission was given to hold a parallel rally at the venue to the Congress where prior permission was already granted to the BJP to hold the rally.
Efforts were made to disturb our rally and the Congress workers raised shameful slogans, stopped our carcade and pelted stones, injuring one person."
Thakur added that they go for campaigning all over the state but such things have happened for the first time, which shows "frustration" of the Congress and they would take up the issue with the Election Commission.
Later, in a complaint filed with the Himachal Pradesh CEO, BJP state office secretary Parmod Kumar Thakur said the Congress workers allegedly tried to illegally restrain the political procession and even pelted stones and demanded an investigation into the incident.
"The district administration granted permission for organising a political meeting to the Congress adjacent to the place already scheduled to hold a political meeting of the BJP at Kaza under undue influence of the state government in utter violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC)", he said.
In the complaint, the BJP demanded the immediate transfer of election officials from Lahaul and Spiti and said giving permission to both the parties at the same location at the same time was a "big lapse" on the part of the Election Commission "in spite of the fact that permission to the BJP was provided first and the officers involved in this act are biased against the BJP, and free and fair elections are doubtful under the circumstances."
Lahaul and Spiti SP Mayank Chowdhary told PTI that workers of both the BJP and the ruling Congress came face to face but there was no clash and no person was injured. However, one worker sprained his leg, he added.
Bhishan Shashni, Congress election coordinator for Lahaul and Spiti claimed that the Congress workers were peacefully protesting but a large number of people, who were hurt by Ranaut's remarks about the Tibetan spiritual leader, joined the protest.
Earlier, Congress candidate from the Mandi Lok Sabha seat Vikramaditya Singh had asked why Ranaut did not visit Spiti and returned from Reckong Peo alleging that she was afraid she would be shown black flags for her remarks against the Dalai Lama.
