The ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year award is the most prestigious individual honor in cricket. The winner collects the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy and enters the history books alongside some of the greatest cricketers of all time.
Recent winners include Virat Kohli (2017 and 2018), Ben Stokes (2019), and Shaheen Afridi (2021). Here is a look at who is in contention in 2022.
Wicket-keeper batsman Mohammad Rizwan plays all three formats of the game for Pakistan, and he is a crucial player for his country. He scooped several awards last season, including the PCB Most Valuable Cricketer prize and ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year.
Rizwan has arguably had a better year in 2022 than he did in 2021. In international T20 cricket, he has rarely had a bad inning. Alongside skipper Babar Azam, the Pakistani duo frequently gets their team off to a fast start.
After losing a tense encounter game against India, Pakistan is +850 in the ICC T20 World Cup odds. If Rizwan remains in the same form as he has shown so far this year, he could lead them to the trophy for the second time in their history.
It is not just with the bat where Rizwan has shone this year, he has shown significant improvement with the gloves. He is very sharp behind the stumps, which means if a batter makes a mistake and leaves their crease, it often leads to their dismissal.
Giving up the Test captaincy with England earlier this year has helped Joe Root to rediscover his excellent form with the bat again. The 31-year-old has now jumped back to the top of the ICC Test batting rankings following a fantastic year.
Joe Root is the fifth man to hit four hundreds in a bilateral Test series this century. #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/Lg9GTwrdTh
Root became only the 14th player in history to score over 10,000 Test runs when he scored a century at Lord’s against New Zealand back in June, as reported by the BBC. That proved to be an excellent series for the Yorkshireman, as he recorded over 700 runs across those five Test matches.
Another highlight this summer for Root was his unbeaten 142 against India at Edgbaston. As you can read from the ITV match report, he helped England record a huge victory in the new Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes era.
Root still has the chance to end the year on a high as he is expected to be part of the England team which travels to Pakistan in December for three Test matches.
2022 has been a great year for Hardik Pandya, not just internationally with India, but also in franchise cricket. In his first year as captain of the Gujarat Titans, he led them to the IPL title in their maiden campaign in the league.
Pandya has been a player who gives India a lot of firepower to their middle order in all formats of the game. However, he is now also a big part of their bowling attack, making him one of the best all-rounders in world cricket.
The 29-year-old had an excellent series in England with the white ball earlier this year. He was a key part of his team’s success in the T20I and ODI games. In the one-day game at Old Trafford, he became the first Indian in 11 years to take four wickets and score a half-century in the same contest.
Pat Cummins has been named Australia's 27th ODI captain 🙌 pic.twitter.com/T0p02wwjiP
Australian ODI captain Pat Cummins began 2022 by helping his country secure a 4-0 victory in the Ashes against bitter rivals England. In the Fifth Test in Hobart, he picked up seven wickets across the two innings in the home side’s 146-run success, as covered by the Guardian. He ended the series as the leading wicket-taker with 21 wickets.
Cummins showed how versatile he is during the 2022 IPL in India. He tied the record in the competition for the fastest half-century, hitting his 50 in just 14 balls, matching what KL Rahul achieved in 2018.
The Kolkata Knight Riders bowler had success with the ball in Sri Lanka and India during his country’s tours in 2022. He is set to be a crucial player for the hosts at the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup as they bid the defend the trophy they won in 2021.
In what has been an excellent year in the sport, the voting panel has a tough decision to make when it comes to the individual prizes in 2022.
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