ICC Player of the Month: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced nominations for August's 'Player of the Month' award. The ICC has nominated Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah, English captain Joe Root and Pakistani pacer Shaheen Afridi for the award.
In women's cricket, the ICC has nominated Nattaya Boochatham of Thailand, Gaby Lewis of Ireland, and Eimear Richardson also of Ireland, for the award.
Bumrah, Root, and Afridi are all in the race for this prestigious award. The ICC has already started the voting process for the award. Fans can go to ICC's official website and vote for their favorite player. The ICC would be announcing the 'Player of the Month' next Monday.
Bumrah, Root and Afridi
Jasprit Bumrah has given an outstanding performance on the England tour so far. He took nine wickets in the first Test. Bumrah has taken 18 wickets in four Tests in the series so far. Bumrah had also played a crucial role in India's victory at the Lord's test. He shared an amazing 89-run partnership with pacer Mohammed Shami in the match, which proved to be the game-changer at the end. Bumrah also holds the record for the fastest hundred test wickets in Tests for India in the Oval Test.
England captain Joe Root has scored the most Test runs this season. He has scored 1455 runs in 23 innings so far at an average of about 58 in the Oval Test this year. Joe Root is just 433 runs away from setting the record for most runs scored in a calendar year. In August, Root has also scored brilliant centuries in three of the four Tests against India so far. So he seems to be a strong contender for the 'Player of the month' award for August.
Pakistani pacer Shaheen Afridi bowled well in two Tests against the West Indies in August. He took 18 wickets in the two-Test series. In the second Test, Afridi took 10 wickets as Pakistan won the series by 109 runs over the West Indies. Afridi became Pakistan's fourth-youngest fast bowler in terms of taking ten wickets in Tests.