India batsman Shreyas Iyer and New Zealand were named ICC Players of the Month for February 2022.
Following his stellar white-ball exploits during the home series against West Indies and Sri Lanka last month, Iyer won the ICC Men’s Player of the Year award. He beat fellow candidates Vritya Aravind of the United Arab Emirates and Deependra Singh Airi of Nepal to claim the prize.
The right-handed batsman scored a match-winning 80 in the third ODI against West Indies in Ahmedabad and then went on to smash 25 off 16 balls in the final match of the three-match T20I series.
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Iyer was even better in the T20I series against Sri Lanka, scoring 204 runs without getting dismissed in three innings at a highly impressive strike-rate of 174.36. He recorded scores of 57*(28), 74*(44) and 73*(45) in three matches, while collectively hitting 20 fours and seven sixes in a Player of the Series performance.
He made his mark in the ongoing Test series against Sri Lanka, scoring a scintillating 92 in the first innings of the pink-ball Test at Bangalore.
“Throughout the month Shreyas showed tremendous consistency and control,” said former Sri Lankan cricketer and member of the voting panel, Russell Arnold.
“He completely dominated the opposition bowlers and proved to be very difficult to bowl, he scored runs all over the wicket and attacked the bowlers at the right time. What really stood out for me was his patience as he fights for a regular spot in the India lineup,” he said.
Amelia Kerr, on the other hand, won the award after her supreme consistency with both bat and ball during the home white-ball series against India. After scoring 17 runs and returning 2/25 in New Zealand’s 18-run victory in the only T20I, Kerr displayed exemplary skill during the ODI phase to establish himself as a world-class cricketer.
He finished the top run scorer in the ODI series with 353 runs at an astonishing average of 117.67, while taking seven wickets at an economy of 5.78. He was adjudged Player of the Match in the second and fourth ODIs respectively, his exceptional performance in the former, in which he returned 1/43 with the ball and scored an unbeaten 119 while chasing 271.
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Kerr was selected for the award ahead of fellow nominee Indian captain Mithali Raj and all-rounder Deepti Sharma. The Wellington-born woman is already widely regarded as one of the best female cricketers in the modern game.
“Amelia Kerr continues to grow in her role as a real all-rounder in the New Zealand team,” said Isobel Joyce, a former Ireland women’s cricketer and member of the voting panel.
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