Picture Credit: Twitter/@ICC
Pakistan captain Babar Azam and Australian batter Alyssa Healy have won the ICC Player of the Month Award for the month of April in men's and women's categories, respectively. The same was announced by the ICC on Monday. Both of them were nominated for their notable performances in the international arena in the month of April. Babar scored 228 runs in 3 ODIs at an average of 76.00 and 305 runs in 7 T20Is at an average of 43.57. Notably, The Pakistan skipper recently pipped Virat Kohli to become the number 1 ranked ODI batter in the world. Meanwhile, Alyssa Healy scored 155 runs in 3 ODIs against New Zealand to end up as the leading run-scorer of the series.
"The world bats in two ways in white-ball cricket. One way is to destroy attacks with muscle and force and then there is the Babar Azam way, like conducting a batting symphony with punch, panache and flair, and he deserves to win this award," former Pakistan cricketer Ramiz Raja, who represents the ICC Voting Academy was quoted in an official ICC release.
"Healy deserves to win the ICC Women’s Player of the Month - April as she added the runs at the top consistently and at a good tempo to help set up Australia's scoring in chases and target setting across all three games of their record-breaking series," Ian Bishop, another member of the ICC Voting Academy, said about Healy.
Fakhar Zaman, Kushal Bhurtel were the other nominees
Among the male cricketers, Fakhar Zaman and Kushal Bhurtel were the other nominees. Kushal Bhurtel was the first nomination from the country of Nepal, which he had earned by scoring three consecutive half-centuries against the Netherland. From women's cricket, Leigh Kasperek of New Zealand and Megan Schutt from Australia were the other nominees.