Team Orisports 26-Apr-2009 373
Orissa’s first ever Test bowler Debasis Mohanty and his Orissa Ranji teammate Basant Mohanty were honoured with the Maruti Estate Saheed Sporting Cricketer of the Year Award for the year 2007-08 and 2008-09 respectively in Bhubaneswar today. The award, carrying a purse of Rs 10,000, was presented at a function by Maruti Estate Managing Director Jitendra Prasad Singh and Real Estate Developers Association president Anup Mohapatra.
National Aluminium Company (Nalco) employee Debasis received the award for the fifth time, while Basant took it for the first time. Debasis had earlier received the award in 1996-97, 2000-2001, 2004-05 and 2006-07. Many well-known cricketers, including Orissa Ranji team captain Shiv Sundar Das, Prashant Mohapatra, P Jayachandra, Sushant Rath, Satya Ranjan Satpathy, Jagannath Das were present on the occasion.