India men’s team captain Shubman Gill, openers Abhishek Sharma and Shafali Verma and spinner Shree Charani are among the nominees for the men’s and women’s ICC Player of the Month award for September.
Besides the Indian quartet, Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza and Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu have also been named in the men’s and women’s shortlist respectively.
Abhishek smashed 229 runs in four T20Is, including a record 30-ball century against Afghanistan, while Gill amassed 333 runs in two ODIs against the West Indies, including his second double-century.
Raza was the leading run-scorer in Zimbabwe’s home ODI series against Australia.
The women’s shortlist recognises standout performances at the Asia Cup and the Asian Games. Athapaththu made an impact with both bat and ball, while Shafali excelled at the top of the order and finished as the leading run-scorer in the Women’s Asia Cup.
Charani, meanwhile, reached the highest rating points ever recorded in the ICC women’s T20I bowling rankings.
Gill is in line for his fifth ICC Player of the Month award.
He struck 110 in the first ODI against the West Indies in Thiruvananthapuram and then produced the fastest ODI double-century ever, his hurricane 223 coming off just 133 balls and helping his team chase down a mammoth 406-run target with eight wickets in hand and 39 balls to spare.
Abhishek, who won the award in September last year, struck the fastest T20I century by an India batter, improving on Rohit Sharma’s record of a 35-ball ton against Sri Lanka in 2017.
Sharma’s knock against Afghanistan at the Ferozeshah Kotla was also the fastest century by any batter from an ICC Full-Member nation as the left-handed opener scored 108 off 34 balls in the third match of the series.
Charani, who was also nominated for the award in June, continued her fine run in the international arena, finishing with 18 wickets in seven T20Is in the month of September with an impressive economy rate of 3.30.
After a haul of two for 13 in the Asian Games final, she attained the highest-ever rating points in the ICC women’s T20I bowling rankings, reaching 817 points.
Shafali, on the other hand, totalled 360 runs at a strike-rate of 184.61 and was the leading run-scorer in India’s successful campaign at the Asia Cup.
The hard-hitting opener also chipped in with six wickets during this period as India won gold at the Asian Games, where she struck 100 not out against Bangladesh in the semi-final and 48 in the final against Sri Lanka.
