Multiple nominations for Yuvraj and Misbah

Exceptional performances through the year by Yuvraj Singh and Misbah-ul-Haq make them leading candidates for the annual Cricinfo Awards, nominations for which were announced in Bangalore on Monday.

A departure from the usual year-end awards looking at overall performances, Cricinfo's honours are in two categories: a jury-based award looking at the year's best batting and bowling performances and a stats-based award using numbers from Cricinfo's extensive database.

Announcing the nominations for the jury-based awards in Bangalore, Sambit Bal, the editor of Cricinfo, explained the reason for the format: "This was something that has never been recognised. Everybody has their Test player of the year and ODI player of the year lists. But ultimately we remember an individual innings, not a run of scores. You remember Yuvraj Singh's 169 in Bangalore, Kumar Sangakkara's 192, but no award recognises that."

The winners will be selected by Cricinfo's expert panel, which will choose from a shortlist of performances in each category. The nine-member panel comprises Tony Greig, Ravi Shastri, David Lloyd, Ramiz Raja, Ian Chappell, Daryll Cullinan, Geoffrey Boycott, Michael Holding and Sanjay Manjrekar.

Apart from Sangakkara's 192 and Yuvraj's 169, the shortlist also includes Sangakkara's 152 against England in Colombo, Jacques Kallis' 155 in Karachi, and Misbah-ul-Haq's match-saving century in Kolkata. Michael Vaughan's 124 against India didn't save the game for England but the sheer quality of the knock puts it in the shortlist, while Mohammad Ashraful makes the list for his 129 against Sri Lanka.

Monty Panesar and Paul Harris are the only spinners in the Test bowling category, while Muttiah Muralitharan misses out despite his match-winning six-wicket haul against England. Dale Steyn is the only one with two nominations, following his destruction of New Zealand.

Sachin Tendulkar makes his way into the nominees' list with his 97 against Pakistan in the Gwalior ODI. Quite fittingly, two of the nominees for the one-day innings are from the semi-final and final of the World Cup.

The only other Bangladeshi representative in the list of nominees is Mashrafe Mortaza, whose 4 for 34 resulted in an upset win against India at the World Cup. Ireland's Boyd Rankin is rewarded for his 3 for 32 during their shock win over Pakistan. Lasith Malinga's four wickets in four balls against South Africa made him an obvious candidate, while Andrew Hall makes the cut as well. Murali Kartik is the only spinner in the list, for his six-wicket haul at the Wankhede Stadium against Australia.

Yuvraj Singh dominates the Twenty20 batting honours with two memorable performances against England and Australia. Rearguard expert Misbah finds a spot with a 66 that masterminded the chase against Australia. The first international Twenty20 century by Chris Gayle against South Africa is an obvious pick.

Sreesanth and RP Singh represent India in the Twenty20 bowling nominees, while Daniel Vettori is the only spinner. Umar Gul and Mohammad Asif are in the shortlist as well.

The second set of prizes, the Statsguru Awards 2007, is based on Cricinfo's extensive ball-by-ball database. The categories include most valuable batsman and bowler, most consistent batsman and best bowler against top-order batsmen.

The winners for all the awards will be announced in the second week of January.