Yuvraj on top form with his tongue

Dubai: Yuvraj Singh, who entertained lovers of the game through his splendid batting in the Twenty20 World Cup, became the first winner of the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year award. After receiving the glittering Trophy, he entertained the media with his articulation.

Video: Top cricket stars descend on ICC awards

When asked to comment on umpire Simon Taufel, who won the best umpire award for the fifth time and was seated next to him, Yuvraj said: "I will have to call him the Roger Federer of cricket."

Acknowledging the remark, Taufel, who had officiated in the Twenty20 World Cup match in which Yuvraj hit six sixes in one over, said: "It was a great experience for me. Yuvraj is undoubtedly one of the cleanest hitters of the ball. I also officiated when he hit 169 against Pakistan in the Bangalore Test match"

When Yuvraj was asked to comment on winning this award, especially at a time when he is passing through a bad form with the bat, he said: "It is very important for any player to have his performance recognised."

Yuvraj recalled the six sixers he hit off Stuart Broad during the Twenty20 World Cup, which had actually helped him beat strong contenders like Chris Gayle of West Indies, Brett Lee of Australia and his own skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the award.

Butterflies in stomach

"After hitting the first four sixes the pressure was on the bowler. After the fifth six I remember having butterflies in my stomach and I knew if I can manage to hit the next one for six it would be very special. It was a great feeling when I saw the ball go over the boundary," he said.

Yuvraj also displayed his maturity while handling a tricky question from a journalist on his equation with skipper Dhoni. He was asked about his argument with during the fourth ODI against Sri Lanka forcing Harbhajan Singh to intervene and pacify them.

"We are here to celebrate the awards and not talk about controversies. There might be things said during a game as we may have different thoughts. Our aim will always be to win."

ICC Cricket awards 2008

• Cricketer of the Year: Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies)
• Test Player of the Year: Dale Steyn (South Africa)
• ODI Player of the Year: Mahendra Singh Doni (India)
• Emerging Player of the Year: Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka)
• T20 international performance of the year: Yuvraj Singh (India)
• Associate Player of the Year: Ryan ten Doeschate (The Netherlands)
• Women's Cricketer of the Year: Charlotte Edwards (England)
• Umpire of the Year: Simon Taufel (Australia)
• Spirit of Cricket Award: Sri Lanka

TEAMS

ICC Test Team of the Year: Graeme Smith (RSA, capt), Virender Sehwag (IND), Mahela Jayawardene (SRI), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WIS), Kevin Pietersen (ENG), Jacques Kallis (RSA), Kumar Sangakkara (SRI, wkt), Brett Lee (AUS), Ryan Sidebottom (ENG), Dale Steyn (RSA), Muttiah Muralitharan (SRI). 12th man: Stuart Clark (AUS).

ICC ODI Team of the Year: Herschelle Gibbs (RSA), Sachin Tendulkar (IND), Ricky Ponting (AUS, capt), Younis Khan (PAK), Andrew Symonds (AUS), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (IND, wkt), Farveez Maharoof (SRI), Daniel Vettori (NZL), Brett Lee (AUS), Mitchell Johnson (AUS) and Nathan Bracken (AUS). 12th man: Salman Butt (PAK).