The ICC Awards 2022 season is here and for the category of the ‘ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer’ Award, we have quite a distinguished list of players as nominees.
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Smriti Mandhana
The Indian batter has had quite a prolific year. Raking 594 runs from 23 matches with five half-centuries, she reeks of consistency and big runs. This year she achieved a lot of firsts, right from scoring the fastest fifty off 23 balls by an Indian woman batter to scoring 2500 runs in Women’s T20Is. She contributed and chipped in runs in all of India’s important assignments this year, most specifically in the Commonwealth games, the Asia Cup and the five-match series versus Australia where she scored that scintillating 79 in front of a packed DY Patil Stadium that had 47,000 spectators. She will certainly be looking forward to carrying the form to the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup that awaits us.
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Nida Dar
The Pakistani all-rounder is next on the list with 396 runs from 16 matches at a remarkable average of 56.57 and she also chipped in with 15 wickets. This year remains special for her as she claimed 100 T20I wickets and was awarded the ICC Women’s Player of the Month Award for October. She was consistent in scoring this year as she accumulated three 50+ scores and her unforgettable knocks against India and the 61 versus Ireland stand out. Even in the Asia Cup, she scored 145 runs while also scalping eight wickets at an average of 14.87.
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Sophie Devine
The evergreen White Fern, Sophie Devine is next on the list as 2022 again was a year to remember for the legend. She scored 389 runs in 14 matches at an average of 29.92 and also pocketed 13 wickets. While also contributing her best, she led New Zealand from the front and led them to glory in 11 out of the 14 games. The highlight of this year has to be the super-over thriller versus the West Indies where her true all-round prowess came through. Currently, she is at the pole summit in the all-rounders ranking and her consistent performances prove why she is an asset to the White Ferns set-up.
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Tahlia McGrath
The immensely talented Tahlia McGrath is next on the list with her 435 runs from 16 matches and 13 wickets, she is proving to be the perfect all-rounder any side would love to have. Her unprecedented rise is not a surprise and her talent is certainly worth all the hype also pocketing the ICC Women’s Player of the Month Award in August. Currently, she is the number 1 ICC Women’s T20I batter and has time and again proven why she is such a cog in the set-up. Predominantly in the Commonwealth Games, she scored 128 runs, and even in the multi-format Ashes series versus England, she scored an unbelievable 91 and scalped 3/26 really tipped the scales for Australia and conveniently took them across the finish line.
I am a first year postgraduate student pursuing a MA in Media and Communication Studies at Christ University, Bengaluru. I am a podcaster, blogger and an avid cricket fan. When not glued to cricket matches, you can find me submerged in books and thinking about cricket all the time.
