International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced four nominees for the Men’s ODI Player of the Year 2021.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam, Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan are among the four players nominated for the top prize in the 50-over format.
South Africa’s Janneman Malan and Ireland’s Paul Stirling complete the 4-man shortlist for the award.
Babar Azam might have played only six ODIs in 2021, but he made vital contributions in the two series that they played this year.
He was the second-highest run-scorer with 228 runs and was the Player of the Match in both of Pakistan’s wins in the 2-1 series victory against South Africa.
He was the architect of Pakistan’s chase of 274 in the first ODI with a century and laid the foundation with an 82-ball 94 in the final ODI where the visitors posted 320 batting first.
He was the lone warrior for Pakistan when they were swept by England 3-0. He accumulated 177 runs in three games but found no support none of the other batters managed to score more than 100 in the series.
Meanwhile, Shakib Al Hasan marked his return from a two-year ban (suspended for one year) in style with a Player of the Series-winning performance against West Indies in January 2021.
Despite last playing an ODI in July 2019, there were no signs of rust as Shakib amassed 113 runs and scalped six wickets in Bangladesh’s 3-0 sweep.
Shakib endured a lean series against Sri Lanka at home, where he scored just 19 runs and snared three wickets in the three matches.
On the other hand, with 705 runs, Paul Stirling finished 2021 as the highest run-scorer in ODIs this year.
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Having made his ODI debut in just February 2020, Janneman Malan has quickly a vital cog of South Africa’s 50-over setup.
He picked up the Player of the Series award in the three-match series against Ireland after finishing as the top-scorer with 261 runs in two matches.
He carried his form over to Sri Lanka and finished as South Africa’s highest run-getter in the ODI series with 162 runs.
ICC MEN’S ODI PLAYER OF 2021 NOMINEES
Babar Azam, Janneman Malan, Shakib Al Hasan, Paul Stirling
ICC MEN’s T20I PLAYER OF 2021 NOMINEES
Jos Buttler, Wanidu Hasaranga, Mitchell Marsh, Mohammad Rizwan
ICC MEN’S TEST PLAYER OF 2021 NOMINEES
Joe Root, R Ashwin, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kyle Jamieson
