Chennai, Mar 24 (IANS): CSK's Super Kings Academy honoured late VB Chandrasekar and late DJ Gokulakrishnan by naming special awards after the former Tamil Nadu cricketers at a special event held here.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) opener New Zealand's Rachin Ravindra and CEO KS Viswanathan with former players' families, presented the awards to the winners at an event.

Akshay Sarangdhar, who was a part of the Tamil Nadu Under-19 and Under-23 squads, bagged the VB Chandrasekhar Super Kings Academy Cricketer of the Year (Boys).

The DJ Gokulakrishnan Super Kings Academy Cricketer of the Year (Girls) award was won by G Kamalini, who has played for Tamil Nadu senior team apart from the Under-15, 19 and 23 teams.

Ravindra also interacted with students and presented awards to the 19 state representatives from the franchise-based academy.

"For me playing cricket’s obviously very fun. It's probably the number one thing I'd like to do in life but I think what's important is we maintain that perspective. I am very lucky to play this game for a living so it's obviously easy to take things for granted because you want to be as good as you want to be, the best player in the world etc," the 24-year-old Kiwi batter said.

"But I think we all remember the reason why we first played cricket and that's for me, I enjoy the game. I love cricket, I love batting, I love bowling, I love winning games of cricket, I love helping my teammates out and for me, that's what's important. Runs and wickets are sort of a by-product of all the work you do in the nets.

"But that'll come if you're truly driven by your body, your heart to enjoy this beautiful game. I hope you guys remember and hope your parents keep encouraging you as well, because that's what my mum and dad did so well for me," he added.