India’s premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah was among the four nominees for the Garfield Sobers Trophy for Men’s Cricketer of the Year as announced by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday.
Australian batter Travis Head and the English batting duo of Harry Brook and Joe Root were the other three nominees.
Meanwhile, Bumrah, Root and Brook have also been shortlisted for the Test Cricketer of the Year award alongside Sri Lanka’s Kamindu Mendis.
Bumrah has enjoyed an incredible year in international cricket. The right-arm quick powered India to a T20 World Cup title win and was awarded the player of the tournament title for his effort.
He was also irrepressible in Tests, claiming a career-high 71 wickets this year at an incredible average of 14.92.
He has taken 15 wickets in the T20I format too. The 31-year-old is in some serious form in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy, where he has picked 30 wickets in only four Test matches.
Root, Brook and Mendis were also in sensational form in 2024. Root was the leading run-scorer in Tests in 2024 with India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal in second. He has made 1556 runs from 17 Tests at an average of 55.57 with six centuries.
Root is bidding to break Sachin Tendulkar’s world record for most runs in Test cricket. He currently has 12972 runs in the format and is less than 3000 runs away from going past the Master Blaster.
Meanwhile, Brook slammed 1100 runs in 17 Tests at an average of 55 with four tons to his name.
Mendis has also been incredibly consistent. He created the world record for fifty-plus scores in the most consecutive Test matches – 8. Mendis scored 1049 runs in 9 Tests at an average of 74.92, with five centuries and three fifties.
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Head has continued his purple patch of 2023 in 2024 in Tests and T20Is. He slammed 539 runs from 15 T20Is at a whopping strike rate of 178.47 alongside 608 runs from 9 Tests at an average of 40.53.
Head has been vital in Australia’s bid to make their way into their second consecutive World Test Championship final.
