PAK vs IRE: Not Babar Azam! Pakistan star among nominees for ICC Player of the Month award for April 2024

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the 3 nominations for the ICC Player of the Month award for the month of April 2024. 

The nominations have been made with respect to the players who represented their respective nations last month. In that regard, players from England, Australia, Afghanistan, and India among a few others could not make it to the nominations.

And that's because most of the players are currently playing in the Indian Premier League 2024, which is organized by the BCCI - India's apex cricket board. 

Namibia's captain Gerhard Erasmus

Gerhard Erasmus, captain of the Namibia National team, is part of the 3-man shortlist for April's ICC Player of the Month award. Erasmus featured in Namibia's 5-match T20I series against Oman last month. Both nations will be taking part in the 20-team ICC T20 World Cup 2024 next month and they played the series as a preparatory campaign. 

In that series, Gerhard Erasmus was in a sensational form with both bat and ball. The all-rounder played a pivotal role in Namibia's T20I series victory by 3-2 at Al Amerat Cricket Ground in Oman. 

Following a poor performance in the 1st T20I wherein he collected only 1 wicket and departed for just 3 runs, Gerhard Erasmus made amends in the following T20Is.

In the 2nd T20I, Erasmus scored 58 runs and registered sensational bowling figures of 3/7. His form slumped again in the 3rd and 4th T20I but in the series-deciding 5th T20I, the 34-year-old scored an unbeaten 64 runs and also scalped bowling figures of 2/22. 

Muhammad Waseem's month of April

United Arab Emirates opener Muhammad Waseem is the 2nd player in April's ICC Player of the Month award nominations. Waseem had a sensational last month wherein he scored a lot of runs for his nation at the ACC Premier Cup event in Oman.

Muhammad Waseem was key behind UAE's victory over Oman in the ACC Premier Cup final at the Al Amerat stadium. He started off the tournament with a brilliant 65-run knock and also registered bowling figures of 1/8 in the match.

In the following 3 matches against Oman, Cambodia, and Nepal, Waseem had scores of 45, 48 and 11 respectively. But during the finale against hosts Oman, Waseem came out all guns blazing, scoring 100 off 56, his 3rd T20I century. His knock helped UAE claim victory by 55 runs.  

 Shaheen Afridi's performance in April 

Last but not least is Shaheen Afridi, who is the 3rd player in ICC's Player of the Month award nominations. Although the month before April proved to be quite tough for Shaheen, due to Pakistan's white-ball captaincy being snatched from him but April went just right for him.

Last month he played a home 5-match T20I series against New Zealand from 18th to 27th April. After the 1st T20I got washed out, Shaheen Afridi had a good performance in the following matches.

In the 3rd and 4th T20I wherein Pakistan lost, Shaheen had figures of 3/13 and 0/37. In the 5th T20I which Pakistan needed to win to draw the series, Shaheen Afridi scalped man of the match-winning figures of 4/30