Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah could be the ICC Cricketer of the Year and Test Player of the Year in 2024. The ICC nominated him in both categories, considering his performance to be at the top of the race to win the award.
In 2024, Bumrah took a maximum of 86 wickets in all three formats combined, he also had the highest wicket haul of 71 in Tests. His sharp bowling also helped India win the T20 World Cup. He was the player of the tournament.
Root and Head also in the race for Cricketer of the Year The ICC on Monday shortlisted 4 players each for the Cricketer of the Year and Test Cricketer of the Year. The Cricketer of the Year award is given to the best performing player in all the three formats. For this he gets the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy. Apart from Bumrah, England's Joe Root, Harry Brook and Australia's Travis Head are also in the race.
Bumrah played brilliant international cricket Bumrah's performance in international cricket this year has been superb. He played 13 Tests and took the highest wickets of 71. His average was just 14.92. 6 for 45 was his best performance in an innings. He has not played a single ODI this year.
Bumrah also played an important role in helping India win the T20 World Cup 2024 title. He took a total of 15 wickets in 8 matches of the tournament. In the final too, he took the important wickets of Riza Hendricks and Marco Jansen. He also won the player of the tournament award for this performance. He can win the award due to his top class performance in 2 formats.
Root and Brook also included in Test Cricketer of the Year Bumrah will also face England's Joe Root and Harry Brook in the race for Test Cricketer of the Year. The fourth name here is Kamindu Mendis of Sri Lanka. Joe Root has scored 1556 runs in 17 Tests at an average of 55.57. He also played a career best innings of 262 runs against Pakistan. On the other hand, Brook has scored 1100 runs at an average of 55 in 12 Tests.
The fourth name for the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy is Travis Head who scored 608 runs at an average of 40.53 in 9 Tests. He also scored 539 runs in 15 T-20s at a strike rate of 178.47. Meanwhile, Kamindu Mendis has scored 1049 runs with 5 centuries in 9 Tests this year.
Former England captain Joe Root scored 1556 runs in 2024.
Bumrah proved effective in Australia In the first match of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) against Australia, Jasprit Bumrah took 8 wickets and single-handedly won the Test match for India. While the Indian team could score only 150 runs in the first innings of this test match. Bumrah was also the captain. Bumrah is the highest wicket-taker in BGT 2024-25. He has taken 30 wickets in 4 matches so far.
Kamindu Mendis can also become Test Cricketer of the Year Sri Lankan all-rounder Kamindu Mendis has scored 1049 runs at an average of 74.92 in 9 Tests this year. He has been nominated for the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year. He is the joint third fastest player in the world to score 1000 Test runs. He took the same 13 innings as Sir Don Bradman to achieve this feat.
Mendis was brilliant in winning the Test series 2-0 against New Zealand. He scored 2 centuries in 2 Tests. He scored an unbeaten 182 off 250 balls on the Galle ground. Which is his best test score so far. He was also declared player of the match for this performance.
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