
Courtesy: Google
On Saturday, January 25, Arshdeep Singh, the Indian fast bowler, was named as the ICC Men’s T20I Player of the Year 2024 for his stellar showing in the format over the past 12 months. The 25-year-old was an integral part of India’s T20 World Cup-winning campaign in 2024 in the Caribbean and the USA, to get widely recognised as one of the best bowlers in the shortest format of the game, especially in the opening and death overs of an innings.
Notably, in 2024, Arshdeep Singh took 36 wickets in just 18 T20I matches for the Indian cricket team at an average of 15.31 at an economy rate of 7.49, while his strike-rate was 10.80. There were four players who took more wickets than him in 2024 in the T20I format, including names likes Ehsan Khan of Hong Kong (46), Junaid Siddique of the UAE (40), Usman Najeeb of Saudi Arabia (38), and Wanindu Hasaranga of Sri Lanka (38), with only the latter belonging to a full-member nation.
Thank you to everyone who worked behind the scenes: Arshdeep Singh
The best individual performance of the year 2024 for Arshdeep Singh in T20I cricket came against the USA in New York during the group stage match of the T20 World Cup, where he registered figures of 4/9 in his four-over spell. In the final of the coveted ICC tournament in Bridgetown, Barbados, when India were in a tough situation against South Africa, he bowled an impeccable 19th over at the death, to support Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya perfectly.
After getting the prestigious award for his impressive showing in the T20I format in the past year in the Indian colours, Arshdeep Singh was thankful to everyone involved in making this possible. He was quoted as saying, “I feel great to win the ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year. Really grateful and thankful to the god. Thank you to everyone who worked behind the scenes, and credit goes to the support staff and players who helped me to get the best of me.”
The left-arm fast bowler will be seen in action later today when India take on England in the second T20I of the five-match series at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.