ICC Men's Player of the Month nominations for April

The International Cricket Council (ICC) today announced the nominees for the ICC Player of the Month Awards for April to recognize the best performances from both male and female cricketers across all forms of international cricket.

Babar Azam, Pakistan

For his extraordinary 122 off 59, Babar Azam has been named Player of the Match 🏅

He smashed 15 fours and four sixes in his knock!#SAvPAK ➡️ https://t.co/rihG1VCmdO pic.twitter.com/xmZUZ1qIWK

— ICC (@ICC) April 14, 2021

Babar played three ODIs against South Africa, stringing together fantastic performances. He returned scores of 103 and 94, which won him two Player of the Match awards in Pakistan’s series victory. He finished the series with 228 runs at a strike rate of 104. His performances helped him move ahead of Virat Kohli as the No.1-ranked ODI batsman, becoming the fourth Pakistan player to do so after Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, and Mohammad Yousuf.

Babar played seven T20Is in April, four against South Africa and three against Zimbabwe, scoring a total of 305 runs at 43.75 with a strike rate of 126.55 with two half-centuries and a 59-ball 122 at the centurion. Among the highlights was a 197-run partnership with Mohammad Rizwan, the highest partnership in a T20I run chase. Babar Azam has scored 3808 runs in ODI cricket, and has scored his runs at an average of 56.83.

Fakhar Zaman, Pakistan

🏏 302 runs
🅰️ 100.66 average
💯 Two centuries

For his brilliant performance, Fakhar Zaman has been named the Player of the Series 👏#SAvPAK pic.twitter.com/BeZb5PR8MQ

— ICC (@ICC) April 7, 2021

Fakhar accompanies his fellow countryman in the list of nominees after a string of impressive outings. He scored a total of 302 runs at 100.66, with a strike rate of 111.43 in the three ODIs against South Africa. In that series, he scored two centuries, including an inspired knock of 193 in the second ODI. His two centuries enabled him to jump to a career-best seventh position in the ICC ODI batsmen’s rankings.

Zaman is also the only batsman to have scored a double century in ODI cricket for Pakistan. He smashed 210* against Zimbabwe on 20th July 2018.

Kushal Bhurtel, Nepal

Kushal Bhurtel (62) and Aasif Sheikh (54*) break the record for the highest opening partnership for Nepal in T20Is 🎉

Their 116-run stand powers 🇳🇵 to a nine-wicket win over Netherlands in the first match of the tri-series 👏

📸 @CricketNep pic.twitter.com/wW1RHKkLpQ

— ICC (@ICC) April 17, 2021

Nepal’s opening batsman Kushal Bhurtel created history – he scored three consecutive half-centuries, and became the first player in T20I history to do so. The 24-year-old was the leading run-scorer of the tournament with 278 runs as Nepal won their tri-series against Netherlands and Malaysia, scoring four half-centuries in the process.

Bhurtel’s brilliant showing granted him an entry into the top 100 of the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Batting Rankings – he currently sit at the 93rd position.