The International Cricket Council has announced the ICC Awards for 2023, rewarding performances across formats. The year brings several awards. These are: best cricketer (covers all types), newcomer of the year, the top associating cricketer, and outstanding umpire.
Australian leader in Test and one-day games, Pat Cummins, won the famed Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy. This trophy named him the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year 2023. In contrast, England’s cricketer Nat Sciver-Brunt grabbed the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award. This made her the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year 2023.
From India, two players also clinched individual titles in the ICC Awards 2023. The seasoned batter Virat Kohli bagged the title of ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year 2023.
At 35, his year was outstanding in one-day matches with his bat. He was runner-up in runs scored – 1,377 runs in 27 matches. His average? 72.47. His strike rate? 99.13. He hit six centuries and eight half-centuries.
The former India skipper had an exceptional ODI World Cup run, notching up 765 runs in 11 innings. His average stood at 95.62 and his strike rate at 90.32. He scored three centuries and six half-centuries.
In the semifinals against New Zealand in Mumbai, he hit his century. He also outdid Sachin Tendulkar, becoming the first to reach 50 one-day centuries.
Suryakumar Yadav was the other Indian player to get an individual distinction at the ICC Awards 2023.
He was named the ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year for the second time in a row. SKY had a fantastic 2023 with the bat in the T20I format, scoring 733 runs in 17 innings at an average of 48.86 and a strike rate of 155.95, with two hundreds and five fifties.
The player, who is 33, scored an impressive 112* in just 51 balls against Sri Lanka at Rajkot in January. Similarly, he made a solid 100 using only 56 balls versus South Africa in Johannesburg in December.
Indians feature prominently in ICC teams of the year
Despite only a couple of Indians bagging personal accolades, their presence was noticeable in the yearly teams. Indian spin masters Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin earned spots in the 2023 ICC Men’s Test Team.
The 2023 ICC Men’s ODI Team is spearheaded by Rohit Sharma along with five fellow countrymen – Shubman Gill, Kohli, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, and Mohammed Shami.
For the 2023 ICC Men’s T20I Team, Suryakumar was chosen as the captain. Men in Blue’s opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, the rising leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi, and the left-armed fast bowler Arshdeep Singh also made the team.
