Bumrah nominated for ICC Cricketer of the Year award, also features in Test shortlist

Dubai, Dec 30: Operating at a level rarely seen in the game before, India’s peerless fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah was on Monday nominated for the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year award and also featured in the list for the best player in the Test format.
Bumrah, who has left the Australian batters scrambling for survival with his incredible display of fast bowling in the ongoing five-match series Down Under, has been nominated for the top award, named after legendary West Indies all-rounder Sir Garfield Sobers, alongside England’s prolific duo of Joe Root and Harry Brook, with swashbuckling Australian batter Travis Head completing the list.
Besides Bumrah, who has been at the top of his game throughout 2024, Root, Brook and Sri Lanka’s Kamindu Mendis featured in the list for the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year award.
Bumrah has been the best bowler in Test cricket in 2024 with 71 wickets from 13 matches at an average of 14.92 and a strike rate of 30.16, the best figures for any bowler.
The right-arm pacer has also been the top bowler in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with 30 wickets in a mere four Tests.
“Having returned to the Test arena following his recovery from a recurring back injury in 2023, Bumrah dominated the bowling charts in 2024. Featuring across 13 Tests in the calendar year, Bumrah delivered his best-ever annual tally – 71 wickets – finishing the year with more Test wickets than any of his counterparts,” the ICC said on its website.
The ICC rated Bumrah’s match-defining spells at Perth, to guide India to a 295-run win, among his most memorable performances along with his dominating show in T20 World Cup.
Head was nominated after finishing as the leading run-scorer of the T20 World Cup and being at the forefront of Australian batting in Tests.
England mainstay Root has been the most dominant batter in the year, amassing 1,556 runs from 17 Tests at 55.57. The 34-year-old crossed the 1,000-run mark in a calendar year for the fifth time in his career while scoring six tons and five fifties.
Root’s compatriot Brook is also in the list of four shortlisted players after scoring 1,100 runs from 12 Tests at 55.00 with four centuries and three fifties.
Sri Lanka’s Mendis, who hit 1,049 runs from nine Tests at 74.92, is also in the list after enjoying a terrific year, during which he became the joint-third quickest to score 1000 Test runs, equalling Sir Don Bradman’s 13-innings mark to reach the milestone.
No Indian among
women nominees
No Indian player features among the nominees for the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year award which has Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Athapaththu and New Zealand’s Amelia Kerr, among others.
The other two players nominated for the honour are Australia’s Annabel Sutherland and South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt. (PTI)