By IANS
New Delhi : President Pratibha Patil Wednesday congratulated pacer Jhulan Goswami for winning the International Cricket Council’s Women’s Cricketer of the Year award.
In a statement here, Patil said: “The award will be a special milestone for women’s cricket in India, and the nation is proud of her achievement.”
Jhulan was honoured with a crystal trophy at an annual awards ceremony in Johannesburg Monday evening.
She was the only Indian winner, as no male cricketer was even shortlisted for the awards.
“It’s a dream come true for me. I am very excited to win this award. It is very unexpected because the other candidates are great players. It is very special for me,” Jhulan said after accepting the award from India’s Twenty20 captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
The 24-year-old lanky bowler from Bengal has an average of 12.40 runs in Test matches and 21.80 in One-day Internationals. Her phenomenal accuracy with the ball is illustrated by her economy rate of 2.10 in Tests and 3.17 in ODIs.