DUBAI – ICC on Tuesday announced the nominees for the Men’s Test Player ofthe Year 2021 award, Pakistani fans expressing concerns after ShaheenAfridi was not picked despite his brilliant performance in the outgoingyear.
The 21-year-old Pakistani pacer played nine Tests and took 47 wickets. Hewas the second-highest wicket-taker this year with an average of 17.06.
A batting stalwart, a spin wizard, an emerging fast-bowling superstar and adogged opener constitute nominees for the ICC’s award.
England’s Joe Root, India’s Ravichandran Ashwin, New Zealand’s KyleJamieson and Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne are the four nominees for thisaward.
Root and Ashwin are the leading scorer and wicket-taker respectively in2021. Root became only the third player in cricket history to smash over1700 runs in Test matches in a calendar year with six centuries.
Ashwin took 52 wickets in 8 matches at an average of 16.23 and scored 337runs at 28.08 with one ton.
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Jamieson has been nominated for his brilliant performances as he took 27wickets in 5 matches at an average of 17.51 and also made 105 runs.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Test captain Karunaratne is the third-highest scorerof 2021 as he made 902 runs in 7 matches at 69.38 with four centuries.
It is pertinent to mention here that ICC will continue to announcenominations of each category of ICC Awards every single day. The winnersfor each category will be announced in January. The official ICC Team ofthe Years will be unveiled on 17 and 18 January.
However, Pakistani social media users have expressed shock over thenominations. A user named Saj Sadiq wrote, : “Surprised that Shaheen ShahAfridi who took 47 wickets (2nd highest) at an average of 17.06 isn’tincluded”.
