The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the three nominations for the ICC Player of the Month award for the month of April 2024.
The nominations have been made taking into account the players who have represented their respective nations in the last month. Players from England, Australia, Afghanistan and India, among others, were unable to make it into the nominations.
And that’s because most players are currently playing in the Indian Premier League 2024which is organized by BCCI – India’s apex cricket board.
Namibia’s captain Gerhard Erasmus
Gerhard Erasmus, captain of the Namibian national team, is part of the three-man shortlist for the ICC Player of the Month award in April. Erasmus featured in Namibia’s five-match T20I series against Oman last month. Both nations will take part in the 20-team ICC T20 World Cup 2024 next month and played the series as a preparation campaign.
In this series, Gerhard Erasmus was in sensational form with bat and ball. The all-rounder played a crucial role in Namibia’s 3-2 win in the T20I series Al Amerat Cricket Ground in Oman.
After a poor performance in the first T20I, where he picked up just one wicket and scored just three runs, Gerhard Erasmus made amends in the following T20I.
In the 2nd T20I, Erasmus scored 58 runs and recorded sensational bowling figures of 3/7. His form dipped again in the 3rd and 4th T20Is, but in the series-deciding 5th T20I, the 34-year-old scored an unbeaten 64 runs and also topped bowling figures of 2/22.
Muhammad Waseem’s month of April
UAE opener Muhammad Waseem is the second player in the nominations for the ICC Player of the Month award in April. Waseem had a sensational performance last month when he scored a lot of runs for his country in the ACC Premier Cup event in Oman.
Muhammad Waseem was key to UAE’s victory over Oman in the ACC Premier Cup final at Al Amerat Stadium. He started the tournament with a brilliant 65-run knock and also recorded bowling figures of 1/8 in the match.
In the following three games against Oman, Cambodia and Nepal, Waseem scored scores of 45, 48 and 11 respectively. But in the final against hosts Oman, Waseem was at full throttle and scored 100 off 56, his third T20I century. His knock helped UAE win by 55 runs.
Shaheen Afridi’s performance in April
Last but not least, Shaheen Afridi is the third player in the ICC nominations for the Player of the Month award. Although the month leading up to April proved to be quite difficult for Shaheen as he was stripped of Pakistan’s captaincy, April went just right for him.
Last month, he played a five-match T20I home series against New Zealand from April 18-27. After the 1st T20I was eliminated, Shaheen Afridi performed well in the following matches.
In the 3rd and 4th T20I, in which Pakistan lost, Shaheen had figures of 3/13 and 0/37. In the 5th T20I, which Pakistan had to win to draw the series, Shaheen Afridi hit the man of match-winning figures with 4/30