Rishabh Pant was outstanding in the first month of 2021 as he played two memorable knocks in Australia in a gruelling Test series. Now the ICC has rewarded Pant for his outstanding show in January and named him the player of the month. The ICC on Monday announced the winners of the inaugural ICC Player of the Month Awards.
Pant was nominated alongside England captain Joe Root and Ireland batsman Paul Stirling. The star Indian wicket-keeper batsman was picked as the winner on the back of his counter-attacking knocks of 97 at Sydney and memorable match-winning 89*at Brisbane that helped India seal the series 2-1.
Rishabh Pant wins the ICC player of the month of January
ICC’s new initiative recognises and celebrates the best performances from both male and female cricketers across all forms of international cricket throughout the year. Meanwhile, Pant smashed 245 runs in 4 innings at an average of 81.66 with 1 man of the match award.
“A month to remember Down Under for Rishabh Pant and India. Congratulations to the inaugural winner of the ICC Men’s Player of the Month award”, ICC wrote on Twitter and announced Rishabh Pant as the winner.
A month to remember Down Under for @RishabhPant17 and India 🌏
Congratulations to the inaugural winner of the ICC Men’s Player of the Month award 👏
📝 https://t.co/aMWlU9Xq6H pic.twitter.com/g7SQbvukh6
— ICC (@ICC) February 8, 2021
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The 23-year-old in the last few months has matured leaps and bounds as a Test batsman. Pant carried on his excellent batting form and smashed another counter-attacking 91 runs when India was struggling against England in the opening Test match at Chennai. Pant batted with supreme confidence and batted at a strike rate of over 100 as he smashed the England bowlers to all parts. Pant will again be a key batsman for India when the hosts bat in the final innings at Chennai on day 5.
Moreover, South Africa’s Shabnim Ismail was selected the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for January 2021 for her performances across three ODIs and two T20Is during the month. Ismail picked seven wickets in the victorious ODI series and also scalped five wickets in the second T20I against Pakistan.
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