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CAPTAIN RESIGNS

Mahela Jayawardene has resigned as the T20 skipper of Sri Lanka. Jayawardene told the reporters about his decision in the press conference after the final match of the World T20 Championship on Sunday night.

In the final match, the Sri Lankan team was defeated by 36 runs. But, Jayawardene made it quite clear that his decision to resign has nothing to do with the defeat of Sri Lanka in the final. Jayawardene said, “It was my last match as the T20 captain of Sri Lanka. I think that it’s the time for a youngster to take over the captaincy of the T20 team. I will continue captaining the test and ODI sides.”

“Our defeat in today’s match is not the reason behind my resignation. Before the start of the tournament, I had told the selectors that I would step down after this tournament.  I will continue to give my contribution as a player in the shortest format of the game.”

When asked about the performance of Sri Lanka in today’s match, Jayawardene said, “We started brilliantly and the first 10-12 overs were fantastic for us. But, after that, we lost the momentum. Samuels decided to take on our best bowler and he succeeded in that. He played a great knock and his inning shifted the momentum in the favour of West Indies.”

“137 was a decent score on this pitch. It was a two paced track and there was a bit of bounce in it for the spinners. We lost Dilshan in the second over and that wicket pushed us back. Their spinners bowled really well. Overall, it was a good all round performance by the West Indies team. They were certainly better than us today and they deserved to win the Championship.”

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CRICKETER OF THE YEAR

Rahul Dravid has been named as the ‘Castrol Test cricketer of the year’ for his brilliant performance in test cricket in 2011. The Castrol awards were given to a number of Indian cricketers a few days ago.

Dravid had announced his retirement from test cricket earlier this year. But, his performance was brilliant in the test matches in 2011. He scored two centuries against West Indies and three centuries against England last year. Rahul Dravid was the only Indian batsman who played the English fast bowlers confidently on the tour of England last year.

Rahul Dravid was the highest run scorer in the test matches in 2011.He played 12 test matches last year in which he scored 1145 runs at an average of 57.25 and at a strike rate of 44.74. He scored 5 centuries and 4 half centuries in 2011. The Sri Lankan batsman, Kumar Sangakkara, was no. 2 in the list who scored 1034 runs in 11 test matches.

Apart from Dravid, some other Indian cricketers were also awarded. Suresh Raina was named as the ‘one day cricketer of the year’. Sachin Tendulkar was named as the ‘batsman of the year’, while, the captain of the Indian U19 team, Unmukt Chand, was named as the ‘junior cricketer of the year’.

The Indian captain, MS Dhoni, was named as ‘cricketer of the year’, but, he was not present in the award ceremony to collect his award. The former Indian captain, Ajit Wadekar, was given the lifetime achievement award.

After getting the award, Dravid said that the last year was very good for him and after the England series, he had thought that he would continue playing for another two years. But, the Australian tour changed his mind set. He started missing the line of the deliveries in Australia and he felt that the time had come for him to quit.