The ICC, today, released the list of nominees for the Player of the Month award for the month of March. Three players have been nominated for the award which includes South Africa’s Lizelle Lee, India’s Rajeshwari Gayakwad, and Punam Raut.
All three have made it to the list after their recent performances in the South Africa Tour of India, which took place in March. Lee was named the player of the series for her magnificent game with the bat in the ODI series. She hit two half-centuries and a century to take her series tally to 288 runs in just 4 innings that she played.
Gayakwad was the leading wicket-taker in both ODI as well as the T20I series against South Africa as she picked up 8 wickets in the 5-match ODI series at an economy rate of 3.56 and 4 wickets in the 3-match T20I series at an economy rate of 4.75, taking her tally to 12 wickets in the tournament.
Who’s your pick as ‘Player of the Month’ for March 2021? pic.twitter.com/WfUlxa63un
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) April 8, 2021
Raut’s game with the bat was splendid, and also a crucial one. In the 5 ODIs that she played, she managed to score two half-centuries and one huge ton for India when the team was struggling to achieve victory. She scored 263 runs in the ODIs at an average of 87.66. She proved to be one of the most important players for India as she became the top scorer for her side with a strike rate of 71.66.
South Africa won the ODI series 4-1 and the T20I series 2-1, and the tournament saw great performances by all the players, especially these three. They made it significantly in the ICC’s Players Rankings List as well. It is going to be a tough choice for the voters as all of them have performed outstandingly in the series, and it is also going to be a neck-to-neck competition for the three stars.
I’m a Senior Masters student pursuing Journalism and Mass Communication. An all time Cricket enthusiast. I could never play the game but always loved watching it, and now writing about it!