Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Muhammad Rizwan and women’s cricket team’s Nida Dar have been nominated for the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 International Player of the Year.
The ICC on Thursday released the list of nominees for the male and female cricketer categories for the award.
Mohammad Rizwan, the ICC T20I Player of the Year 2021, is in the running for the award for the second consecutive year.
The right-handed batsman scored 996 runs in 25 T20Is in 2022 with 9 catches and three stumpings. He continued his impressive run from his record-breaking year in T20I in 2021 and played the role of anchor for the Pakistan T20 team. In men’s T20Is, only Surya Kumar Yadav scored more runs than Rizwan in the year.
Rizwan scored ten half-centuries on the year in T20Is and finished with 175 runs in the T20 World Cup, the joint-highest by a Pakistani batsman. Averaging 45.27 in T20Is in 2022, Rizwan furthered his reputation as a high-quality anchor in Pakistan’s batting line-up.
That year, Rizwan held the top spot for batsmen in the MRF Tires ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings for a while. He ends the year at No. 2 with 836 rating points.
Rizwan’s stoppage innings came in the T20 World Cup warm-up in the home series against England, when he scored an unbeaten 88 off just 51 balls as Pakistan chased down the 200-plus target without losing a wicket.
Mohammad Rizwan was the ICC T20I Player of the Year in 2021.
Indian batsman Surya Kumar Yadav, Zimbabwean all-rounder Sikandar Raza and T20 World Cup player of the tournament Sam Curran have also been nominated for the award.
Nida Dar’s Magnificent 2022
The Pakistani all-rounder scored 396 runs at an average of 56.57 and took 15 wickets in 16 T20 matches. She became the first and only Pakistani bowler to take 100 T20I wickets and is currently the second highest wicket-taker in women’s T20Is.
Dar scored three fifty-plus scores that year: an unbeaten fifty at the Commonwealth Games, a similar feat against India in the Asia Cup, and a 61 at home against Ireland in November.
Dar was exceptional in the Asia Cup, scoring 145 runs in six matches at an impressive average of 72.50, taking eight wickets at 14.87 apiece.
Along with Nida, Indian batsman Smriti Mandana, New Zealand’s Sophie Devine and Australian Tahlia McGrath have been nominated for the award.