The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday announced the winners of the ICC Player of the Month Awards. Pakistan’s Asif Ali and Ireland’s Laura Delany have been voted the ICC Players of the Month for October.
Pakistan’s ‘finisher’ Asif Ali has been in terrific form in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2021. Asif has produced several match-winning performances for Pakistan in the last few games. He smashed 27 runs from 12 balls against New Zealand. In the next game, he scored 25 runs off just 7 balls against Afghanistan, smashing four sixes in Karim Janat’s over. So far, in this T20 World cup, he scored 52 runs at a strike rate of 273.68.
“Helping your team to win, especially from the jaws of defeat is what makes Asif Ali special. And he did that not just once but twice. Although he scored considerably less than the other two nominated players. The contribution he made and the pressure situations from where he snatched the victories made all the difference,” said Irfan Pathan who is a member of the ICC voting academy.
Laura Delany named ICC women’s Player of the Month
From the women’s category, Irish skipper Laura Delany bagged the Player of the Month for the October award. The 29-year-old was named Player of the series in the ODI series against Zimbabwe. The all-rounder impressed with the bat and the ball, scoring 189 runs at 63, and taking four wickets at 27.
“Laura has been playing international cricket for over a decade. And has the difficult task of captaining her country, which carries a great weight of expectation. I have been following her career, ever since I played alongside her in the Gordon Women’s Club in Sydney and watched her development. This recent series was a breakout series for her as she was able to register her highest ODI score. And is a worthy recipient of the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for October,” said ICC Voting Academy member Lisa Sthalekar