Smriti Mandhana and Shaheen Afridi performed brilliantly across all formats last year.
Mandhana performed brilliantly throughout the last year for Indian women’s cricket team. She played a key role in India’s only two wins out of eight matches against South Africa at home. The stylish opener made 80 not out as India chased down 158 in the second ODI and scored 48 not out in the win in the final T20I.
Mandhana also proved his worth in the longest format, playing a sublime knock 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.
Smriti Mandhana carried her stunning form on the tour of Australia as well. She scored 86 in the second ODI and hit a glorious century in the only Test and was awarded the Player of the Match. She scored her second T20I fifty of the year in the final T20I, though India fell short and lost the series 2-0.
On the other hand, Pakistan speedster Shaheen Afridi was named ICC's Men Cricketer of the Year for 2021.
Afridi claimed 47 wickets in nine Tests at 17.06 last year and also picked 23 wickets in 21 T20Is and 8 wickets in six ODIs. The highlight of his performance was his heroics in the T20 World Cup 2021, especially in the first match against India, where he rattled the top order of the arch-rivals.
During the showpiece tournament, the left-arm pacer took seven wickets in six matches as Pakistan qualified to the semi-final.
In the high-voltage encounter against India, Shaheen rattled the top order of the arch-rivals to earn the Player-of-the-Match award. He dismissed Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli to lay the foundation of Pakistan’s maiden victory over India in World Cup.
(With ANI inputs)