Rishabh Pant voted inaugural ICC Player of the Month for January
Proteas star Shabnim Ismail voted ICC Women's Player of the Month
Dubai, Feb 8: India's flamboyant wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant on Monday won the ICC's inaugural Player of the Month award for his superlative performances in the two Tests against Australia in January.
Pant scored a 97 at Sydney and an unbeaten 89 at Brisbane that powered India to an incredible series win against arch-rivals Australia Down Under.
Commenting on winning the inaugural award, a delighted Pant said in an ICC release: "For any sportsperson, contributing to a team win is the ultimate reward but such initiatives help motivate youngsters such as myself to do better each time.
"I dedicate this award to every member of Team India that contributed to our victory in Australia and also thank all my fans who voted for me."
Pant blazed his way to a breathtaking 91 on the third day of the ongoing first Test between India and England in Chennai.
Speaking about Pant winning the award, former Pakistan skipper Ramiz Raja, representing the ICC Voting Academy, said: "Both times Pant played under pressure in two different sets of challenges: to draw a game and to win a game. He showed his versatility of skills in both knocks, the clincher being his temperament."
South Africa's Shabnim Ismail was named the ICC Women's Player of the Month following her performances across three ODIs and two T20Is during the month.
Ismail took seven wickets in the victorious ODI series against Pakistan, before taking five wickets in the second T20 International against the same opposition.
According to a release issued by the game's governing body, the three nominees for each of the categories were short-listed based on on-field performances and overall achievements during the period of that month (the first to the last day of each calendar month).
The short-list was then voted on by the independent ICC Voting Academy and fans around the world.
The ICC Voting Academy comprises prominent members of the cricket fraternity including senior journalists, former players, and broadcasters and some members of the ICC Hall of Fame.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
