The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday (September 6) nominated India pacer Jasprit Bumrah for the player of the month award for August.
Apart from Bumrah, England Test skipper Joe Root and Pakistan pacer Shaheen Afridi have also been shortlisted for the month of August in the men's category.
Last month, Bumrah performed exceptionally well in the ongoing Test series against England. He took 9 wickets in the drawn first Test at Trent Bridge and contributed 28 runs with the bat.
In the second Test at Lord’s, which India won by 151 runs, Bumrah claimed three wickets and played a crucial knock of 34* in the second innings. The right-arm speedster returned with only two wickets in India’s innings defeat during the third Test at Headingley.
Coming to Root, he slammed three centuries in as many Tests against India in August. While the England captain smashed 64 and 109 in the first Test, he scored 180* and 33 in the second game. Root hit 121 in the third Test in Leeds.
On the other hand, Shaheen finished the two-Test series against West Indies with 18 wickets to his name. Taking eight wickets in the first Test, the left-arm fast bowler went on to claim career-best match figures of 10/94 in the second match, guiding Pakistan to a series-levelling 109-run victory at Sabina Park.
In the women's section, Thailand's Nattaya Boochatham and the Ireland duo of Gaby Lewis and Eimear Richardson have been nominated for the month of August.
Boochatham made contributions with both bat and ball in the series against Zimbabwe, which propelled her to career-best positions across the women's T20I player rankings for batters, bowlers, and all-rounders. Her performances helped Thailand win their three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe 2-1.
The Ireland duo of Lewis and Richardson played a big part in Ireland's three wins out of four in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier in August.
Lewis became the first Ireland player to score a century in women’s T20Is, during their 164-run win over Germany, in the opening game of the tournament. Lewis’ knock featured 11 fours and three sixes, and her 105 came off just 60 balls.
Richardson, meanwhile, was adjudged the Player of the Tournament in Europe Qualifiers, thanks to her contributions with both bat and ball. She finished the tournament with seven wickets at an economy rate of 4.19, and aggregated 76 runs with the bat.
(With ICC inputs)
