Castrol announces 'Castrol Asian Cricket Awards'

The motor oils and lubricant giant, Castrol on Thursday in Mumbai has announced to institute Asian cricket talents by launching a new award ‘Castrol Asian Cricket Awards’ from the forthcoming Asia Cup to be scheduled to begin from June 27, 2008 in Karachi, Pakistan.

This announcement came in the presence of three Asian Cricket legends India’s Rahul Dravid, Pakistan’s Wasim Akram and Sanath Jayasuriya, the Lankan Master Blaster who would also the brand ambassadors of ‘Castrol Asian Cricket Awards’. These awards would be given to Asia’s best cricketers in all three major formats: Test Cricketers, One Day Internationals and T20 tournaments on a biennial basis.

Speaking at the press conference in Mumbai on the occasion of making announcement to launch new cricket awards, Naveen Kshatriya, the Regional Vice President, BP Lubricants, Transcon Region said, “The creation of the Castrol Asian Cricket Awards is entirely in keeping with South Asia’s status as cricket's hub and heart, in terms of commerce, and more importantly, talent, popularity and passion.”

“With Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, South Asia is today the home of leading cricketing nations in the world,” Kshatriya added. A life-size replica of the sparkling trophy of the ‘Castrol Asian Cricket Awards’ was also unveiled in this occasion.

The awards will be given to the toppers of the Castrol Performance Index (CPI) who would get the most points in the relevant categories. List of the categories are:

• Castrol Asian Cricketer of the Year (Overall) • Castrol Asian Batsman of the Year (Overall) • Castrol Asian Bowler of the Year (Overall) • Castrol Asian Fielder of the Year (Overall) • Castrol Asian Test Batsman of the Year • Castrol Asian Test Bowler of the Year • Castrol Asian ODI Batsman of the Year • Castrol Asian ODI Bowler of the Year • Castrol Asian Twenty20 Batsman of the Year • Castrol Asian Twenty20 Bowler of the Year

Castrol India has been honouring the Indian cricket talents since 1997-98 in three major categories: ‘Castrol Indian Cricketer of the Year’, ‘Castrol Junior Cricketer of the Year’, ‘Castrol Lifetime Achievement in Cricket Award’ of both cricket format: Test Cricket and ODI.