Indian all-format skipper, Harmanpreet Kaur bagged the International Cricket Council’s (ICC’s) Player Of The Month Award (POTM) in September and nominees for the following, October month see India’s Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma and Pakistan’s Nida Dar in contention for the award.
Nida Dar :
The 35-year-old all-rounder produced a string of impactful performances for Pakistan in the recently concluded, 8th edition of the Women’s T20 Asia Cup. Nida Dar in 6 matches scored 145 runs at an average of 72.50 and bagged 8 wickets at an average of 14.87. She with the ball started out with a 0/6 against Malaysia in the side’s opener and then registered figures of 2/19, 2/26 and 2/23 in the next games against hosts Bangladesh, Thailand and India respectively. She didn’t have a bowl in the game against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and then closed the tournament out with figures of 1/25 and 1/20, both against Sri Lanka with the latter coming in the Semi-Final.
Nida Dar’s consistent run with the ball was reflected in her batting as well as she topped her 12 against Thailand, with a 56* against India and carried on the good form as she scored 25* against the UAE, 26* against Sri Lanka in the final league stage game and again against Sri Lanka, this time in the Semi-Final scored a 26, again.
Jemimah Rodrigues :
The 22-year-old on return from injury made the most of her hunger to score as she went on to finish the tournament as the highest run-getter with 217 runs to her name at an average of 54.25. Jemimah got her tournament underway with a blistering 53-ball-76 against Sri Lanka and topped the knock with a 45-ball-75* that’d come against the UAE.
She couldn’t carry on her tournament with the same momentum but bettered her 2(8) against Pakistan with a 35*(24) against Bangladesh. Jemimah closed the tournament with a 27(26) against Thailand in the Semi-Final and in the Final scored 2 off 4 balls.
Deepti Sharma
The 25-year-old all-rounder carried on her impressive run of form from England to Bangladesh where she topped the wickets charts with 13 scalps to her name coming off 8 matches at a stunning average of 7.69. Deepti got her tournament underway with a 2/15 against Sri Lanka that only got better in terms of the economy rate as she against Malaysia and the UAE registered figures of 1/10 and 0/11. She also scored a crucial 64 against the UAE to bail India out of trouble.
Deepti couldn’t put up more of such performances with the bat, but with the ball carried on her momentum as she went on to register figures of 3/27 against Pakistan, 2/13 against Bangladesh, 2/10 and 3/7 against Thailand in the final league stage and Semi-Final respectively. She closed the tournament out with a stunning 0/7 off 4 overs against Sri Lanka in the final. For her to have consistently impacted, she was adjourned as the player of the tournament as well.
