No Indian In The List As ICC Announces Nominees For Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy For The ICC Player Of The Year 2021
Published - 31 Dec 2021, 04:03 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 01:02 AM
No player from the India National Cricket Team has been included in the list of the nominees announced by the ICC for the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC player of the year 2021.
The four nominees for the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Player of the Year are England red-ball captain Joe Root, Pakistan pacer Shaheen Afridi, Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan and New Zealand captain Kane Williamson.
England red-ball captain Joe Root had a sensational run in Test cricket in 2021 he was the lone warrior of the English batting line-up for an entire year. He started the year by smashing 228 against Sri Lanka in Galle, then he smashed another double ton against India in Chennai. He followed up his exploits by smashing 564 runs in four matches with three centuries to his name in the home Test against India. In the ongoing Ashes, he also got good starts but was unable to convert it into a big score.
Joe Root after reaching the top of the ICC Men’s Test batsman rankings in 2021 said that he was hoping to score in the same fashion and help England win more Test matches. He said:
“As nice as it is there’s still so much hard work to do and the focus doesn’t change, it’s all about trying to continue getting better, continue scoring runs and hopefully winning Test matches. It’s not something that I have as a goal or the main focus in what I’m trying to do. I’m proud to hear I’ve achieved that and it would be nice to stay there now.”
The second nominee, young Pakistan pacer Shaheen Afridi dominated against the world’s best batters in 2021, he performed exceptionally well for the team in T20Is and Tests. His stint in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was brilliant and overall he bagged 23 wickets in T20Is in 2021. Talking about his performance in Tests he scalped 47 wickets in only 9 matches at an average of 17.06. His best spell of 2021 came in the T20 World Cup against India where he dismissed Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli in the match.
Indian captain Virat Kohli lauded Shaheen Shah Afridi for his performance against India in the high-pressure game. Kohli said post-match:
“He put our batsmen under pressure immediately with the new ball, and he ran in with intensity and showed that he’s bowling in consistent areas, so as batsmen you are forced to be a bit watchful.
“That spell kind of put us on the back foot immediately, and from there on to get those extra 20, 25 runs, in the end, seemed pretty difficult when you lose three wickets for 20 runs.”
ICC Announces Nominees For Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy For The ICC Player Of The Year 2021
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson enjoyed a great run in 2021, with his brilliant leadership skills he helped the Blackcaps win the inaugural edition of ICC World Test Championship Final against India in Southampton and reach the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021. He played an amazing knock for the team in the WTC final as well as the T20 World Cup final.
After New Zealand won the inaugural WTC tournament Kane Williamson said:
“I’ve been part of [NZ cricket] for a short while, it’s a very special feeling, the first time in our history we’ve come away with a world title. We’ve had 22 players over the last two years, and they’ve all played their part and the support staff and the guys who played this match, it’s a special achievement to be savoured.
“We know we don’t always have the stars, we rely on other bits and pieces to stay in the game and be competitive. We saw a lot of heart and commitment to our style of cricket in this game.”
Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan dominated T20I cricket in 2021, he scored 1326 runs in only 29 matches, at an average of 73.66 and a strike rate of 134.89.
In Test cricket, he scored 455 runs in 9 matches at an average of 45.50. Also, he played back-to-back memorable knocks for the team in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021
Pakistan batting coach Matthew Hayden had showered praise on Rizwan after his 67 runs knock in the T20 World Cup final against Australia after it was revealed that Rizwan was lying on a hospital bed a night before the summit clash battling a lung infection. Hayden said:
“Rizwan, you probably didn’t know was actually in hospital just a night ago suffering from some sort of lung condition. This is a warrior. He has been brilliant through it (the campaign) and he’s got great courage.”
