Afghanistan's leg spinner Rashid Khan, who impressed everyone with his skills in this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) by grabbing 21 wickets, was presented with the CEAT Cricket Ratings T20 Bowler of the Year Award on Monday night in Mumbai.

Rashid has also been lauded as one of the best performers in the IPL that ended on Sunday. 

His magnificent all-round performance against Kolkata Knight Riders in Qualifier 2 at the Eden Gardens last week led to batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar tweeting that Rashid, at the moment, is the best T20 bowler in the world. Khan learnt of this tweet when he boarded the team bus after his team’s win, and was reportedly awestruck.

"When I got into the bus, a friend sent me a screenshot of the tweet and I was shocked to see it. I was thinking for like 1-2 hours before I could eventually reply. I really didn't know what to write, but finally I replied," Rashid told Times of India on Monday.

"The whole of Afghanistan seemed to have seen that tweet. Tendulkar is very, very famous there and everyone was surprised that he had such high praise for me. Statements like these motivate young players and infuse positive energy," he added.

Rashid ended IPL 2018 with 21 wickets, just behind Kings XI's Andrew Tye, who returned with 24 wickets for the purple cap. 

India skipper Virat Kohli was awarded International Cricketer of the Year at the CEAT Cricket Ratings awards; opener Shikhar Dhawan was presented the International Batsman of the Year Award, and New Zealand pace sensation Trent Boult won International Bowler of the Year Award.

New Zealand's opening batsman Colin Munro won the T20 Batsman of the Year Award.

West Indian batsman Chris Gayle was presented with the Popular Choice Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award was bestowed on former India stumper Farokh Engineer.