The International Cricket Council (ICC) have announced the nominees for the ICC Player of the Month award for April. The ICC Player of the Month award is generally given to the best Player of the Month and it is a relatively new award category. It was introduced this year in 2021 itself. An independent ICC Voting Academy comprising former players, broadcasters, and journalists from around the world, will team up with fans to vote for the ICC Men’s Player of the Month and ICC Women’s Player of the Month. The nomimies for the ICC Player of the Month for April are Pakistan’s Fakhar Zaman, Pakistan’s skipper Babar Azam and Kushal Bhurtel from Nepal.

 

Pakistan had a series against South Africa last month and thus we can see two players nominated from Pakistan. Pakistan skipper Babar Azam played three ODIs against South Africa and was absolutely fantastic to say the least. He scored 2 magnificent knocks which included a 103 and 94. Thia won him two man of the match awards in Pakistan’s successful series victory. He finished the series with 228 runs at a strike rate of more than 100. His performances helped him overtake Virat Kohli as the No.1-ranked ODI batsman. He became the fourth Pakistan player to do. Pakistan’s superstar then played seven T20Is in April, four coming against South Africa and the other three against Zimbabwe. He scored 305 runs at an average and strike rate of 43.75 and 126.55 respectively. It included two half-centuries and a 59-ball 122 at the centurion. Fakhar Zaman was superb as well. He scored a total of 302 runs at average and strikerate of 66 and 111.43 respectively in the three ODIs against South Africa. In that series, he scored two centuries, including a 193 in the second ODI which will go down as one of the best knocks of all time. The third contender is Kushal Bhurtel.

 

The Nepal Opener created history – he scored three consecutive half-centuries, and became the first player in T20I history to do so. The 24-year-old was the leading run-scorer of the tournament with 278 runs. Well Babar Azam has a really good chance to win the award as he has been consistent in more than just one format Zaman and Bhurtel are worthy contenders but haven’t been consistent in more than a format. Although Fakhar Zaman did score a half century and a quickfire 20 in the T20Is he played this month, Azam has been more consistent in the shortest format of the game

By Arvind Krishnan

Cricket writer, statistician and analyst. An unorthodox media student, marketing runs in his blood. Sports Marketer and analyst.