Rishabh Pant wins inaugural ICC Player of the Month Award

Rishabh Pant on Monday won the ICC’s inaugural Player of the Month award for his excellent performance in the two Tests against Australia in January.

The wicketkeeper-batsman scored a 97 at Sydney and an unbeaten 89 at Brisbane that helped India to an incredible series win against arch-rivals Australia.

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Reacting on winning the inaugural award, Pant said in an ICC release, “For any sportsperson, contributing to a team win is the ultimate reward but such initiatives help motivate youngsters such as myself to do better each time.”

“I dedicate this award to every member of Team India that contributed to our victory in Australia and also thank all my fans who voted for me,” he added.

Talking about Pant winning the honour, former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja while representing the ICC Voting Academy said, “Both times Pant played under pressure in two different sets of challenges: to draw a game and to win a game. He showed his versatility of skills in both knocks, the clincher being his temperament.”

While the ICC Women’s Player of the Month went to South Africa’s Shabnim Ismail following her performance across three ODIs and two T20Is during the month.

Ismail took seven wickets in the ODI series that helped the Proteas win against Pakistan, before taking five wickets in the second T20I against the same opposition.

According to a release issued by ICC, the three nominees for each of the categories were shortlisted based on their performances and over-all achievements during the entire month.

The short-listed players are voted on by the independent ICC Voting Academy and fans from across the world.

The ICC Voting Academy includes significant members of the cricket fraternity comprising senior journalists, former players and broadcasters and some members of the ICC Hall of Fame.