New Delhi: Indian cricket celebrated a double triumph as Jasprit Bumrah and Smriti Mandhana clinched the ICC Player of the Month awards for their stellar performances in June. Bumrah shone brightly with his heroics with the ball in the T20 World Cup 2024, while Mandhana impressed across formats during India’s series against South Africa, including three ODIs and a Test match at home. Bumrah even bagged the Player of the Tournament award at the T20 World Cup 2024.
Bumrah edged India skipper Rohit Sharma and Afghanistan opener Rahamanullah Gurbaz to grab the award in what was an eventful month where India ended up winning the T20 World Cup beating South Africa in the final last month. The India pacer played an important role in the USA and Caribbean, clinching 15 wickets at an average of 8.26, and an impressive economy of 4.17. He also joined former India skipper Virat Kohli in the elite list of India cricketers to claim the T20 World Cup Player of the Tournament awards.
“I am delighted to be named the ICC Men’s Player of the Month for June,” Bumrah said in the ICC statement. “It’s a special honour for me following a memorable few weeks spent in the USA and West Indies. We have had a lot to celebrate as a team, and I’m delighted to be able to add this personal accolade to the list.”
One of Bumrah’s standout performances happened in the T20 World Cup 2024 final, where he turned the tide after Heinrich Klaasen had single-handedly brought the chase down to 30 runs off 30 balls. The right-arm pacer bowled two overs in the death, conceding just six runs and cliched took a crucial wicket, which was good enough to put pressure back on South Africa, from which they eventually failed to recover.
After receiving the award, Bumrah applauded the efforts made by other two nominees. “I wish to congratulate my captain Rohit Sharma and Rahmanullah Gurbaz for their excellent performances in the same period, and I am humbled to have been chosen as the winner,” he said. Mandhana, on the other hand, secured her first ICC Player of the Month award by outperforming England’s Maia Bouchier and Sri Lanka’s Vishmi Gunaratne.
The India opener was in great touch across the three-match ODI series against South Africa where the hosts whitewash the Proteas. She became the first Indian womanto register back-to-back centuries in ODIs (113 and 136 in first two games), before hitting a brilliant 90 in the final game of the series. Following her white-ball heroics, Mandhana notched up 149 runs off 161 deliveries in the one-off Test against the Proteas and also set a record with a 292-run opening stand alongside Shafali Verma.
“I’m glad to be named ICC Women’s Player of the Month for the month of June. I’m really happy with the way I think the team has performed and I’m happy to contribute for us, winning the ODI and the Test series. Hopefully we can continue our form, and I can even further contribute to win matches for India,” she said.
