DUBAI: Pakistani captain Babar Azam has been voted as the ICC’s Men’s Player of the Month for April for his consistent and outstanding performances across all formats in the recently concluded series against South Africa.
Babar’s match-winning 82-ball 94 in the third ODI against South Africa helped him gain 13 rating points to reach a career-best 865 points. He also contributed 122 from 59 balls in Pakistan’s successful chase in the third match of a T20I series against the same opposition.
Commenting on Azam’s performance in April, Ramiz Raja representing the ICC Voting Academy said: “The world bats in two ways in white ball cricket. One way is to destroy attacks with muscle and force and then there is the Babar Azam way, like conducting a batting symphony with punch, panache and flair, and he deserves to win this award.”
From the Australian camp, Alyssa Healy was deservingly named the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for April 2021. Healy’s consistency with the bat has been a significant part of Australia’s dominance, showing her class in all conditions and against all types of bowling in the recent series against New Zealand.
Healy played three ODIs versus New Zealand, scoring 155 runs at an average of 51.66 and a strike rate of 98.72. Her efforts saw her finish as the leading run-scorer in Australia’s series victory over New Zealand that extended their record-winning streak to 24 ODIs.
The three nominees for both categories were shortlisted based on on-field performances and overall achievements during the month. The shortlist is then voted on by the independent ICC Voting Academy and fans around the world.
Babar Azam’s performance in South Africa was enough to lift him to the top spot on the ICC ODI batting rankings for the first time in his career.
With that, he ended India skipper Virat Kohli’s long reign atop the men’s ODI batting rankings – a spot he had held since October 2017 – and became just the fourth Pakistani player to hold the position.
Sitting on top of the ODI batting rankings and having previously done the same in T20Is, Babar has now set his eyes on doing the same in Test cricket.
On 25 April, Babar made further history, becoming the fastest batter to score 2000 runs in men’s T20Is. He reached the milestone in just 52 innings, four fewer than Kohli.
???? Three ODIs, 228 runs at 76.00
???? Seven T20Is, 305 runs at 43.57
???? Became the No.1 ODI batsmanWell done, @babarazam258 for winning the ICC Men’s Player of the Month for April ????#ICCPOTM pic.twitter.com/CuCaodFEk7
— ICC (@ICC) May 10, 2021
