ICC Player of the Month: Shreyas nominated for February; Mithali, Deepti nominated in women’s category

The ICC Players for the Month of February for men’s and women’s international cricket were announced on Wednesday.

In February, some strong male and female candidates staked their claim with some stellar performances. The ICC Player of the Month nominations in the men’s category include UAE batsman Vruti Aravind, India batsman Shreyas Iyer and Nepal’s Deepender Sing Airi.

In the women’s section, New Zealand all-rounder Amelia Kerr, India’s legendary star Mithali Raj and all-rounder Deepti Sharma are nominated.

Shreyas Iyer was in unbeatable form in the month of February and played a key role in India’s white-ball dominance. He started the month with a match-winning 80 against West Indies in the final ODI and 25 off 16 balls in the last T20I.

With India’s players rested and Suryakumar Yadav injured, Iyer was promoted to No. 3 in the T20I series against Sri Lanka. He scored three unbeaten fifties in three matches and scored 204 runs at a blistering strike rate of 174.35 and was awarded the Player of the Series for his exploits.

Mithali Raj was one of the few shining lights for India in the ODI series against New Zealand. She was the highest run-scorer for India and the second-highest run-scorer with 232 runs, including three fifties, with a strike rate of 82.56 at an average of 77.33.

In the final ODI, he played the finisher to perfection, remaining unbeaten on 54 as India chased down 252 with four overs to spare. With the win, India ensured that they end the series with a win in their kitty.

In the series against New Zealand, Deepti Sharma performed brilliantly with both bat and ball. He took the most wickets (10) in the ODI series as well as did the job with the bat, scoring 116 runs in five matches. He took four wickets in the second ODI and then scored 69* in the next match.

(ANI report)