Smriti Mandhana is ICC women’s cricketer of the year

Dubai: India’s swashbuckling opener Smriti Mandhana was on Monday named the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year for the second time for her stellar run of form across all formats in 2021. Mandhana, who also made it to the ICC T20 women’s Team of the Year, pipped fellow nominees Tammy Beaumont of England, Lizelle Lee […]

Dubai: India’s swashbuckling opener Smriti Mandhana was on Monday named the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year for the second time for her stellar run of form across all formats in 2021.

Mandhana, who also made it to the ICC T20 women’s Team of the Year, pipped fellow nominees Tammy Beaumont of England, Lizelle Lee of South Africa and Gaby Lewis of Ireland for the to the top award — the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, the ICC said in a statement.

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The Southpaw had won the award in 2018 as well when she was also named the women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year, making her only the second women’s player to win the highest individual distinction in the overall category.

The Indian T20 vice captain is only the second India woman player to bag an ICC award after veteran fast bowler Jhulan Goswami, who was named the ICC Player of the Year in 2007.

Despite India enduring a difficult 2021, Mandhana’s stock continued to rise this year.
In the limited-overs series against South Africa where India won just two of the eight matches at home, Mandhana played a major role in both of the wins. She made 80 not out as India chased down 158 in the second ODI that helped them level the series and scored 48 not out in the win in the final T20I. The 25-year-old played a sublime innings of 78 in the first innings of the one-off Test against England that ended in a draw. She played an important knock of 49 in India’s only win in the ODI series.

Her 15-ball 29 and fifty in the T20I series went in vain though as India fell short in both the matches and lost the series 2-1.

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam was on Monday named ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year while England Test captain Joe Root took home the top honours in the red-ball category, beating competition from, among others, Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. Babar’s team-mate and left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi won the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year. He was bestowed the honour for taking 78 wickets across formats in 36 internationals at an average of 22.20 in 2021.

The 27-year-old Babar scored 405 runs in six games at an average of 67.50 in 2021. He was the second-highest run-scorer with 228 runs and was the Player of the Match in both of Pakistan’s wins in the 2-1 series victory against South Africa.

Root wins Test Cricketer of the Year. The magnitude of Root’s sublime form in Test cricket in the year 2021 can be summed up by one simple stat — he has become only the third player in history to aggregate over 1700 runs in Test cricket in a calendar year. Only Mohammad Yousuf and Sir Vivian Richards stand ahead of him.

Shaheen Shah Afridi wins Men’s Cricketer of the Year for a phenomenal 2021 across all three formats of the game, especially in Tests and T20Is. He was on fire in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in UAE, where he impressed one and all with his sheer speed and skills. South Africa opener Lizelle Lee was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year for her scintillating performance which saw her finish as the highest run-scorer in 2021 in the format. Marais Erasmus Umpire of the Year. South Africa umpire Marais Erasmus was named the Umpire of the Year for the third time after receiving the honour in 2016 and 2017.

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