June 28, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 23, 1429

KARACHI, June 27: Former Indian captain Saurav Ganguly capped a memorable comeback by becoming the first recipient of the Asian Cricketer of the Year Award at a function held here on Friday.

Ganguly also received the overall Asian Batsman of the Year Award.

The overall Asian Bowler of the Year Award was claimed by Sri Lanka’s off-spinning wizard Muttiah Muralitharan.

The Asian Wicket-keeper/Fielder of the Year award was won by Pakistan’s Kamran Akmal.

The inaugural Asian Cricket Awards ceremony was hosted by former Pakistan captain Rameez Raja.

The awards were given away by legendary Asian cricketers like Wasim Akram, Sanath Jayasuriya, Wasim Bari, Asif Iqbal and Zaheer Abbas.

Besides the overall category, the Awards were also given away for the Asian Batsmen and Bowler in Test Cricket — Kumar Sangakkara and Muralitharan; Asian Batsman and Bowler in ODIs — Sachin Tendulkar and Farveez Maharoof and Asian Batsman and Bowler in Twenty20 — Gautam Gambhir and Umar Gul.

Besides the awards mentioned above, the Pakistan Awards for Cricketing Excellence for performances by Pakistan cricketers, were also presented.

Shoaib Malik was declared the Pakistan Cricketer of the Year whilst the legendary Hanif Mohammad was felicitated with the Pakistan Lifetime Achievement Award. Ahmed Shehzad was declared the Pakistan Junior Cricketer of the Year.—Agencies