ICC Player of the Month: Mayank Agarwal gets nominated
What's the story
Indian cricketer Mayank Agarwal has been nominated for the ICC Player of the Month for December 2021. Mayank showed his attributes for Team India in the two Test matches he featured against New Zealand and South Africa. Besides Mayank, New Zealand spinner Ajaz Patel and Australian pacer Mitchell Starc have also been nominated for the same. Here are further details.
Context
Why does it matter?
The ICC Player of the Month is a monthly award which was started since January 2021. The award is presented by the ICC to recognize male and female cricketers, who performed well across all forms of international cricket in a particular month. The likes of Mayank, Ajaz, and Starc enjoyed themselves last month with staggering performances for their respective sides in Test cricket.
Mayank
Mayank averaged 69.00 in December
India beat New Zealand in the second Test to seal the series 1-0. Mayank had a dream second Test in Mumbai. He got scores of 150 and 62 as India sealed victory by 372 runs. And then in the Boxing Day Test versus South Africa in Centurion, Mayank amassed scores of 60 and 4. Overall, Mayank scored 276 runs at an average of 69.00.
Ajaz
Ajaz scripted history in Test cricket
Ajaz Patel claimed 10 wickets in an innings in the second Test versus India. The left-arm spinner became only the third bowler after Jim Laker and Anil Kumble in Test history to have taken all 10 wickets in an innings. Ajaz picked up 14 wickets in the match at an average of 16.07. He became the first left-arm spinner to reach this landmark.
Starc
Starc helped Australia retain The Ashes
Australian left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc played a vital role with both ball and bat. He helped Australia win the 2021-22 Ashes with two games to spare. In the three Tests last month, Starc amassed 14 wickets at an average of 19.64. He also showed his heroics with the bat, coring 117 runs in the three matches at an average of 58.50.
Men's cricket
List of award winners
Here we present the list of ICC Player of the Month winners in men's cricket - Rishabh Pant (January 2021) R Ashwin (February 2021) Bhuvneshwar Kumar (March 2021) Babar Azam (April 2021) Mushfiqur Rahim (May 2021) Devon Conway (June 2021) Shakib Al Hasan (July 2021) Joe Root (August 2021) Sandeep Lamichhane (September 2021) Asif Ali (October 2021) David Warner (November 2021)