Best of the best honoured at CLT20 opening night

Bangalore:

Outstanding performances by cricketers in domestic Twenty20 competitions from across the world were awarded in a star-studded function in Bangalore on the eve of the inaugural edition of the Champions League T20.

That award Highest Individual Score went to Hampshire's Michael Lumb for his 69-ball 124 runs against Essex.

Royal Challengers Bangalore's Manish Pandey won the Best Batting Average with a tally of 168 runs at an average of 84. It was the 19-year-old Pandey's heroics with Rahul Dravid in the IPL Semi-Final that had propelled the Challengers over the Chennai Super Kings.

Hamish Rutherford of the Otago Volts won the award for the Best Batting Strike Rate (167.94 with an aggregate of 220 runs). Victorian Bushrangers and Kolkata Knight Riders right-handed batsmen Brad Hodge took the honours for the Most Runs Socred (cumulative) for the two teams with a total of 627 runs in the season.

The Best Bowling Figures in a Match award was won by Indian spin legend and captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Anil Kumble, for his effort against the Rajasthan Royals during IPL II. Kumble had led from the front with a fantastic spell of 5-5 that scuttled the Rajasthan Royals.

The Best Bowling Strike Rate award went to Isura Udana of the Wayamba Elevens with a high strike rate of eight and a tally of 16 wickets, while the Best Bowling Economy Rate in a Season award was taken by Samuel Badree of Trinidad & Tobago with 4.33 runs.

Victorian Bushranger and Delhi Daredevil Dirk Nannes won the Most Wickets Award (cumulative) for his 27 wickets in the IPL and Twenty20 Big Bash.

Lalit Modi, the brain behind the T20 tournament, said the popularity of the game and the cricketers would increase the fan following.

"The performances by these cricketers have captured the imagination of audiences worldwide and added to the popularity of the game and a phenomenal increase in the fans following globally. The fact that seven out of the eight awardees will be playing in the Champions League Twenty20 is testament to the quality of players who will contest the inaugural edition of the tournament", Modi said.

He also congratulated the winners on their achievements.

"I congratulate all the winners and hope that these awards will inspire domestic cricketers worldwide to perform even better and help take Twenty20 cricket to the next level", he added.

The function also saw some great performance by international pop star Shaggy.