One can’t possibly question their judgment or knowledge about the game, but the five-man ICC panel of Sunil Gavaskar, Waqar Younis, Arjuna Ranatunga, Allan Donald and Ian Healy has unveiled a list of top ODI players of the year that has left a big Indian question.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who made the biggest impact on the shorter version as a batsman during the period of evaluation (August 1,2005 to August 8, 2006), including bagging the top spot in the ICC rankings once and hitting the best ever score by a wicketkeeper, has not been nominated for any of the 10 categories, especially among the 17 names for the best ODI player.

The nominations were released today and the annual ICC awards ceremony will be held at Centre of Performing Arts, Mumbai, on October 23.

ICC CEO Malcolm Speed, who released the list, placed the onus on the selectors’ “knowledge, skill and judgment” and added that the “long list will be voted upon by the ICC voting academy, that includes the ten Test skippers, the umpires and match referee panel, legends of the game and select members of media. The pruned list for the awards, will be declared on October 14 at Jaipur.”

At least on two counts, Dhoni should have made the cut. Going by the numbers, Dhoni deserved a place (see box). And if match situation was the criteria, it’s no secret that the 25-year-old has bailed out India on a number of occasions over the last season. In fact, Dhoni has been the key in India morphing into world record chasers last season.

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