Jaiswal among ICC Men's Player of the Month nominees for February

Dubai: Prolific India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, the leading run-scorer in the ongoing Test series against England, has been nominated for ICC Men’s Player of the Month Award for February alongside New Zealand’s Kane Williamson and Sri Lanka’s Pathum Nissanka.

”The International Cricket Council (ICC) revealed the shortlists of nominees for the ICC Men’s and Women’s Player of the Month awards for February 2024,” the ICC said in a release on Monday.

”Several high stakes battles took place last month in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC), and among the contenders for the ICC Men’s Player of the Month prize are two premier run-scorers in the longest format, plus a record-breaking ODI batter from Sri Lanka.” Jaiswal has been nominated for the first time in the ICC Player of the Month awards following a sensational month in Tests against England. So far, the left-hander has scored 655 runs from four Tests with a match to go. The 22-year-old scored back-to-back double hundreds in Visakhapatnam and Rajkot to help India overturn a 0-1 deficit against England and win three Tests on the bounce.

In Rajkot, Jaiswal equalled the record for most sixes in a Test innings slamming 12 maximums. With more runs coming in the fourth Test, he ended February having amassed 560 runs at an average of 112.

The back-to-back double hundreds at the age of 22 years and 49 days made him the third youngest batter in the world to record two double centuries in Tests after Sir Donald Bradman and Vinod Kambli.

Jaiswal’s prolific run ensured that India climb to the top of the ICC World Test Championship table.

Williamson, on the other hand, has also been piling runs as New Zealand recorded their first-ever Test series victory over South Africa. The New Zealand veteran slammed two hundreds in the first Test in Mount Maunganui, and then made 133 not out to help his team chase down a tricky fourth-innings target in Hamilton to ensure the series victory. New Zealand thus climbed to the second spot of the WTC table at the end of February with three wins in five Tests.

Completing the lineup is Nissanka, who shone across three ODIs and three T20Is against Afghanistan.

The opener struck Sri Lanka’s first-ever ODI double-century in Pallekele (210 not out in 139 balls) to kick the series off in blistering fashion. More runs came in the third ODI, as Nissanka raised the bat once more with 118 in 101 balls to seal another convincing win, before a half-century in the final T20I showdown capped a fine month. In all, Nissanka hit 346 ODI runs and 91 T20I runs to earn his first nomination for the award.

The ICC also nominated UAE duo of Kavisha Egodage and Esha Oza and Australia’s Annabel Sutherland for the Women’s Player of the Month award for February.