Within a span of five days, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the ICC Awards 2024 recognizing some outstanding cricket performances of the year, that concluded on Monday. The winners were declared after the round of voting by ICC Voting Academy, a panel of Global media representatives and cricket fans from the world. India has grabbed big with huge honors for its cricketers.
ICC has announced the Team of the year across all three formats with its captains, Player of the year- Men and Women in all formats, Emerging Cricketer of the year, Men and Women Associate Cricketer of the Year, Umpire of the Year and the most awaited “Cricketer of the year”.
Jasprit Bumrah
A booming year for Boom Boom Bumrah!!! Jasprit Bumrah is crowned with the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year at the ICC Awards. Bumrah had an extraordinary year where he dominated with the bowl, at every pitch, against every opponent and in every format. Bumrah was competing against Travis Head, Joe Root and Harry Brook for the title and in the end, emerged as the winner this Tuesday. The nominations were announced in the end of December 2024. Bumrah had a total tally of 71 wickets from 13 games in the tests, exploiting the game with brilliance and the finest of class.
Bumrah has also been named as the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year, a phenomenal year where he became the fastest Indian pacer to achieve the feat of 200 wickets. At the end of the year, Bumrah had a record-breaking 907 points and is the current World No.1 in test rankings. He also finished 2024 as the leading wicket-taker in Test cricket. Not to forget the Border Gavaskar Trophy, the grand BGT, sweeping the Player of the Series with an astonishing 32 wickets in 5 tests. He was in a thrilling form exploiting the 2023-2025 WTC cycle, clinching 77 wickets, a record for pacers.
Coming over to India’s T20 World Cup win, Jasprit Bumrah was a star in the campaign, always showing up with the ball, emerging as the savior or the ‘Brahmastra’ for the team. Bumrah finished with an average of 8.26 and an economy of just 4.17, becoming the ‘Player of the tournament’.
Jasprit Bumrah is the fifth recipient from India to receive the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the year award after Rahul Dravid (2004), Sachin Tendulkar (2010), Ravichandran Ashwin (2016) and Virat Kohli winning it twice in 2017 and 2018.
Other TITANS, the significant winners from India include:
Smriti Mandhana
Smriti Mandhana has been declared the ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year 2014. She has earlier claimed the titles in 2018 and 2022. This year, the ‘Queen of runs’ gave a stellar performance with 747 runs in 13 ODIs at an average of 57.86 and a strike rate of 95.15. Mandhana had a record breaking year where she smashed 4 centuries with a total of 95 boundaries and 6 sixes. Her centuries led India win against South Africa 3-0. She won against the top batters round the world, and was successful in achieving the feat.
Arshdeep Singh
Arshdeep Singh is now referred as the Champion of death bowling in T20s. he has been named as the Men’s T20 Cricketer of the Year 2024. The 25- year-old Indian pacer took a total of 36 wickets in 18 matches, which is the 4th highest globally. He played a significant role in India’s T20 World cup victory, bowling a masterclass in the powerplay and death overs. Singh was the joint highest wicket taker of the tournament taking 17 wickets. His ability stood apart across various conditions and under pressure.
The Indians also achieved a spot in the teams of the year, with likes of Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, in various formats of the game. Here is the complete list-
ICC Men’s T20 team of the year
Rohit Sharma (C), Travis Head, Phil Salt, Babar Azam, Nicholas Pooran (WK), Sikandar Raza, Hardik Pandya, Rashid Khan, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh.
ICC Men’s Test Team of the Year
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ben Duckett, Kane Williamson, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Kamindu Mendes, Jamie Smith (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Patt Cummins (C), Matt Henry, Jasprit Bumrah.
ICC Women’s ODI Team of the year
Smriti Mandhana, Laura Wolvaardt (C), Chamarthi Athpaththu, Hayley Mathews, Marizanne Kapp, Ashleigh Gardner, Annabel Sutherland, Amy Jones (wk), Deepti Sharma, Sophie Ecclestone, Kate Cross.
With this, we can definitely say that this is ‘India’s reign of cricket’, the men and women dominating the pitches across all formats of the game. And there is indeed, more of laurels to come for the country. Making many more achievements, that continue to shatter records, building some more while climbing up the ladder of success!