Gambhir exhausted off short-list antagonism from Mitchell Johnson of Australia, Sri Lanka’s Thilan Samaraweera and England captain Andrew Strauss to affirmation the aboriginal ICC accolade of his career.
During the 12-month voting period, Gambhir put in some arresting performances with the bat, authoritative 1,269 runs with an absorbing boilerplate of 84.60 in the eight Test matches he played. He denticulate bristles centuries and four half-centuries during the period.
Upon accession the accolade from ICC Cricket Hall of Famer Sunil Gavaskar, the 27-year-old Gambhir said: “It’s been a dream run for me. I never anticipation it could be like this but activity has afflicted for me and I am actual happy.
“As a assemblage we accept played actual able-bodied and I am aloof animated to accord to the all-embracing success of the team.”
The Test Player of the Year Accolade was one of eight alone prizes accustomed at this year’s LG ICC Awards. Gambhir additionally featured on the ICC Test Aggregation of the Year as best by the ICC alternative panel.
The console was chaired by West Indies fable Clive Lloyd and included above India captain Anil Kumble, above England wicketkeeper Bob Taylor, above Pakistan opener Mudassar Nazar and above New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming.
Based on the aeon amid 13 August 2008 and 24 August 2009, the LG ICC Awards 2009 – presented in affiliation with FICA – booty into annual performances by players and admiral in a arresting aeon for the game.
That aeon includes such high-profile contest as the ICC World Twenty20 2009 in England, the ICC Women’s World Cup 2009 in Australia and the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2009 in South Africa, as able-bodied as several mutual Test and ODI series.
The LG ICC Awards commemoration is now in its sixth year and this year it is actuality captivated in Johannesburg to accompany with the ICC Champions Trophy 2009. Previous ceremonies were captivated in London (2004), Sydney (2005), Mumbai (2006), Johannesburg (2007) and Dubai (2008).