Sachin, Viru nominated for ‘Cricketer of the Generation’ award

Indian batting icon Sachin Tendulkar and Virendra Sehwag will be amongst the nominees for the ‘ESPNcricinfo@20 Cricketer of the Generation’ award, with the cricket news website announcing two more categories to its seventh annual awards.

The two new special awards – Cricketer of the Generation and Contribution to Cricket will add to the six categories announced earlier.

Besides Tendulkar and Warne, West Indian Brian Lara, Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka, Australia’s Shane Warne and South African Jacques Kallis will also be in fray.

As the closing element of ESPNcricinfo’s 20th anniversary celebrations, a 50-member jury of current and former cricketers and leading sportswriters will pick the finest player of the last 20 years to honour with this award.

The winner will also be presented with a Renault automobile.

The website last month announced nominees for the annual ESPNcricinfo Awards, sponsored by Renault, which recognise the best cricket performances in 2013.

The winner of the ‘Contribution to Cricket’ award will be nominated by former Indian captain Rahul Dravid. This award will consider contributions from all over the cricket ecosystem, from groundsmen to pitch curators, umpires to grassroots organisers, or just about anyone who has made a positive impact on the game.

“The Contribution to Cricket award was conceived to reward values that are pivotal to the sport – hard work, commitment, selflessness, fair play, and a dedication to the game. These are attributes embodied by many people across many aspects of the sport who are rarely – if ever – given credit for the amount they contribute to this great game,” said Dravid.