ICC Player of the Month Award: India’s Ravichandran Ashwin gets nominated alongside Joe Root, Kyle Mayers
ICC Player of the Month: India’s Ravichandran Ashwin, England Test captain Joe Root and West Indies newcomer Kyle Mayers have been nominated for the ICC award.
In Short
- Ravichandran Ashwin has been nominated for ICC Player of the Month award
- Rishabh Pant was the winner of the award last month
- England Test captain Joe Root has also been nominated
Late in January this year, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the inaugural Player of the Month awards to “recognise and celebrate the best performances of both male and female cricketers across all forms of international cricket throughout the year”.
Early in February, India’s wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant pipped England captain Joe Root to win the inaugural ICC Player of the Month award for January. Veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and Joe Root have both found their names in the nominee list for the Player of the Month for the month of February.
The voting process for the fans have begun on the ICC website and the results will be announced on March 8. Besides Ashwin and Root, West Indies' new batting sensation Kyle Mayers was also nominated for award for his brilliant performance in the Bangladesh tour last month.
Mayers created a bunch of records as West Indies registered the 5th highest successful run chase in Test cricket history. Mayers, making his debut, scored an unbeaten 210 and also became only the 6th player to score a double hundred on Test debut. The 28-year-old also recorded the highest individual score in the fourth innings of the Test by a debutant.
Meanwhile, Ashwin played three Test against England in the month of February which included his 106 that helped India win the 2nd Test in Chennai and also completed 400 Test wickets in India’s win against England in the 3rd Test at Motera. England captain Joe Root had scored a massive 218 in the 1st Test in Chennai to help the visitors start with a lead in the 4-match series.
"Scoring a total of 176 runs across these games with taking a total of 24 wickets, Ashwin is the deserving candidate to be nominated in the men's category for February," the ICC release stated.
"England Test captain Joe Root makes it to the list of nominations again this month for his outstanding performance with the bat and the ball. He scored a total of 333 runs and took 6 wickets overall in the 3 Tests that he played against India," it further stated.
England’s Tammy Beaumont and Nat Sciver along with White Ferns’ Brooke Halliday have been nominated in the women’s cricket category for the Player of the Month award.