ICC Player Of The Month: Sandeep Lamichhane, Heather Knight Announced As Winners For September

Nepal’s rising leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane and England women’s captain Heather Knight have been selected as winners of the ICC Player of the Month award for September, the ICC announced on Monday (11 October).

Sandeep Lamichhane featured in the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 for Nepal. In 6 ODIS, the leggie picked 18 wickets at an average of 7.38 while bowling an economy of 3.17. He remained “the stand-out bowler during the tournament”.

Sandeep Lamichhane, 21, returned with remarkable bowling figures of 6/11 against Papua New Guinea and 4/18 versus Oman. For his outstanding bowling show in the tournament, he has been selected as the ICC Men’s Player of the Month for September.

Sandeep Lamichhane overcame some strong competition from Bangladesh left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed and USA’s hard-hitting batter Jaskaran Malhotra. Both of whom delivered brilliant performances last month.

Heather Knight bags ICC women’s POTM for September

Amongst the women’s, England captain Heather Knight has been awarded the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for the month gone by. However, Knight faced some stiff competition from teammate Charlie Dean and South Africa’s Lizelle Lee.

Knight starred in England’s T20I, and the ODI series wins over New Zealand at home. She scored 42 in the third T20I before finishing as the highest scorer in the ODI series, with 214 runs at 42.8. She hit 89 in the first ODI and played a magnificent knock of 101 in the fourth.

Although she got out for a duck in the fifth ODI, the English skipper snapped three wickets with the ball. As a result, Knight was deservedly awarded the Player of the Series as well.

The ICC Player of the Month award was introduced in January this year. India’s Rishabh Pant, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar won in the first three months. However, no Indian women cricket has won it yet.

Also Read: The Ashes 2021: Michael Atherton Reckons England’s Squad For The Ashes Is Neither The Strongest Nor The Weakest